The Catholic Community Service (CCS) aimed to expand its Maru food security programme by helping 60 new participants to establish food gardens at their homes in 9 communities of the Thabo Mofutsanyane District of the eastern Free State. These underdeveloped areas have been highlighted by the national government as communities in special need of intervention. While there is much land available for food production, people lack the knowledge and skills to develop and maintain food gardens that would improve the nutrition and health of their families. Training in vegetable production and follow-up support and encouragement will help create food gardens and boost nutrition in the area.

Impact

• 60 Learners were trained in vegetable production. Three vegetable production trainings were conducted successfully with 20 learners in each training.
• 4 community gardens were established.
• 60 households with an average of 5 members each benefited from the project, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 300.
• Garden competitions were conducted and the winners received cash and vouchers to buy more seeds or equipment.

Activities

• The three sets of training in vegetable production were conducted as originally planned in February, March and May 2007. The training consists of five days in vegetable production and two days capacity building.
• All trained beneficiaries received a starter pack of seeds and tools to help them start their own vegetable gardens at their respective areas.
• Project visits to all trained beneficiaries were conducted and advice was given to the beneficiaries.
• Garden competitions were held three months after each training.

Expenditure The cost of the project is R 129, 960 which has been paid in full.

Note: R13 740 was reallocated from travel of participants to accommodation and meals. R 2 013 of accommodation and meals was paid by Siyabhabha Trust. R646 of travel of participants was also paid by Siyabhabha Trust. R39 420 for tools and seeds was provided by Lottery Gardens and NDA.

Challenges

Accessing land is a perennial problem because the municipalities’ processes are slow but CCS continues to negotiate on this. Availability of water is still a challenge at some projects and they are looking for funding to help make sure that water is easily accessible to all the projects. Seasonal work is also a problem because people need money quickly so they tend to go and work on the farms rather than attending the training or tending to their food gardens.

Monitoring and evaluation

The Maru Garden Fieldworkers visit each beneficiary once a month for 12 months. They complete an assessment process, monitoring progress and identifying any problems at each visit.

The aim of the project was to combat hunger and poverty through organic food security vegetable production and so far monitoring and evaluation mechanisms have found that:

• There are 11 community gardens which are supported by CCS and 4 of those community gardens were established with SASIX funds.
• An average of around 1800 people in the community can access fresh vegetables in their own backyards and their nutritional value has improved.
• Income has been generated for some beneficiaries because they can get fresh vegetables from the gardens and also sell some to community members to get a small income.
• Transmission of knowledge has enabled capacity building and nutrition has been improved.

Conclusions

After receiving training, the beneficiaries started to form community gardens which are now doing very well. They have also managed to sell their produce and get some income to provide for their families. Evaluation of the project highlighted that an advanced training that includes vegetable drying, Agri Planner and rearing of chicks would help the project grow and generate more income to promote sustainability. Fundraising activities are currently underway to make this a reality.