A number of practical and interactive training workshops were
organised and the groups, who were dominated by women, were
more than eager to try out different planters, withmost participants
preferring theMatracca andMBLI planters as they deposit seed and
fertiliser simultaneously, reducing labour. (
Photos 2a
to
2d
)
A special event inMatatiele to celebrate
and share
TheGrainSACA FarmersDay held inKhauoe on 27April 2014, was
a day of note as participants who did trials demonstrated their CA
practices and shared their experienceswith thebroader community,
including people from Malosong, Andries, Khauoe, Jabulani and
Khoapa-Taung areas.
Smallholder farmers in and around Matatiele and a range of
stakeholders, gathered for this major awareness event. The day
mainly aimed to give an overview of the pilot project, to share
information and provide participants with an opportunity to share
their experiencewith the rest of the community (
Photos 3a
and
3b
).
Key stakeholder representatives attended the farmers day, which
included the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the
Masangane HIV/AIDS Project, Lima Rural Development Foundation,
MatatieleAdviceCentre, Afritrac, SaveAct, Mahlathini Organics and
GrainSA.
Stakeholders also shared their CA experiences and results from
other areas. The highlight of the daywas when farmers testified on
how their trials performed during the first growing season of the
project. In addition, they testified tonon-participants on thegrowth,
colour and size of maize grown in trials compared to that done
conventionally.
Farmer experiences
ForMrsNozamileMandlakhe (
Photo4
) andher neighbours, growing
food is an important livelihood activity, supplementing their part-
time work of roadside clearing. Mandlakhe wanted to see if any
food would grow from her weed dominated field. Herbicides were
sprayedonher 400m
2
plot andmaize, drybeans and cowpeaswere
plantedusinghandhoes and thematracca (jabplanter).
“At that stage people nearby had come to see this nonsense of
sowing seeds straight into the weeds”, she said to the group. As
time went on, she would get people walking into her home asking
how come crops grow in such conditions. For her this was also an
experience as shehas never seen anythingof this nature.
Maizekeptongrowing tallerand taller, beansandcowpeasalsogrew
strong within thick grass mulch. At the end of it all, she harvested
10,97 kg dry beans and 3,87 kg cowpeas respectively from her trial
plot of 100 m
2
. She was amazed to see an almost full bag of dry
beans, produced in such a small plot.
“I have just more than 10 kg of beans that will see me through for
the next four to sixmonths and I have saved over R150 given that a
5 kgbagof beans costsmeR75 at the supermarket,” she said.
In the SCG group she stressed that they should work together to
grow food andwith the SCG’s financial savings back-up, they could
collectivelybuy fertilisers andother inputs, whichwill allow them to
grow enough food from their ownbackyards.
Better prospects for smallholders in
Matatiele
Less than one year after the pilot CA-FIP project was launched in a
few smallholder communities of theMatatiele district in the Eastern
Cape, the general feeling among the participants is that it has first
and foremost successfully provided an opportunity for local people
to engagewith theprinciples andpracticeof CA.
Through this farmer-centred innovation process, they have learned
how to apply CA and have seen some initial benefits of these
practices, resulting in a growing interest from surrounding farmers
and/or fellowSCGmembers (
Photos 5a
to
5c
).
The Mahlathini Organics/Grain SA facilitation team will now have
a much stronger foundation to continue the following phase of
CA implementation in the area. This attempt will be boosted by
the community’s growing interest as well as their commitment,
collective efforts andmost importantly, increased food production
for better household food security andhealth.
ON FARM LEVEL
Conservationagriculture
100
Promoting conservation agriculture to increase the
sustainabilityof smallholders inMatatiele
TEGNIESEBEMARKINGS-
BESTUURDERS
AgChem verlangdiedienste vanTegnieseBemarkings-
bestuurders in verskeie areas vanSuid-Afrika.
Diepersoonmoet in staat wees omdie volgende take te verrig:
• Tegniese advies aan agente verskaf
• Verkoopsondersteuning aan agente
• Entoesiastiese kliëntediens
• Verkoop-vooruitskattings
• Demonstrasieproewe tedoen en teorganiseer
• Ophoogtebly endetail-insighê rakendemaatskappy
produkte endienste
• Opleiding enbemarking rakendemaatskappyprodukte
bydie agente
Minimum vereistes:
Naskoolse landbou-kwaliÀkasie,
ondervinding in ‘n soortgelykeposisie.
Moet inbesit wees vandieAVCASA enBASOS sertiÀkaat.
Indiennie,moet dit binne 1 jaar verwerf word.
‘nMarkverwante, prestasiegebaseerde vergoedingspakket
nagelang van kwaliÀkasies enondervindingword aangebied
asookbyvoordele.
E-POSCVNA:
*DieRolfesGroepbiedgelykegeleenthede aan allewerknemers
