Mawisa Community Garden

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South Africa

Limpopo

This 300m2 community garden was founded by Nancy Chauke who recruited six other women in the area to cultivate the parcel. The garden is situated in Mhinga village, Malamulele, Limpopo province. The land is registered under her name and the group has registered as a trading cooperative in order to fit within the South African legal framework.
The water is provided by the local municipality and the soil is rich in nutrients so that the crops cultivated can easily adapt to the local climatic condition, which is found on low land.
The group has attended agro-ecological training workshops and have purchased various garden equipment (a jojo tank to collect water, hand hoes, a digging fork, and wheelbarrows among others) and have installed a drip pipe irrigation system, which is now making it easier for them to work the soil.
Some of the crops cultivated in the garden include winter crops such as spinach, cabbage, onions, carrots and tomatoes, while among the summer crops there are peanuts, corn, watermelon, beans, baby marrow, tindluwa (which looks like and is planted like peanuts, but can only be eaten when cooked, and is mainly used as an ingredient in some indigenous dishes such as Tihove and Xiendlahivomu). They also have a chicken coup, where they raise free range chickens. The products are used for personal consumption and any surplus is sold to the local community, the revenue from which is goes toward the daily family expenses.

Area
Mhinga Village, Malamulele, Limpopo province

Coordinator
Chauke Nancy

Slow Food in South Africa

In the “Rainbow Nation,” indigenous ethnic groups—the Zulu, Xhosa, Venda and Tsonga to name just a few—have over the centuries been joined by Portuguese, British and Dutch colonizers, then subsequently by waves of Asian immigration. South Africa has the highest number of people of Indian descent outside of India in the world. Hundreds of languages are spoken across the many diverse environments, from the temperate and Mediterranean-like West Cape to the arid Karoo and the subtropical northeast. But the country’s spectacular biodiversity is being destroyed by human activity. Agricultural biodiversity, for example, has been drastically reduced due to the widespread use of GMO seeds. Around 80% of the maize being cultivated is genetically modified. This type of agriculture is linked to the similarly industrialized production of foods high in sugar, salt, fat, additives and refined flour, creating eating habits that are leading to a rapid increase in heart disease and obesity. For these reasons, the Slow Food network in South Africa is working to highlight the relationship between food and health. Awareness is being raised among consumers about the importance of eating local, seasonal food, and the Slow Meat campaign is promoting more responsible meat consumption, with lower quantities, higher quality and the use of different cuts to avoid waste. It is not just consumers who are in need of better information. South Africa also has many small-scale farming families with little basic knowledge who urgently need technical training in order to help them develop sustainable agriculture practices. The 10,000 Gardens in Africa project is therefore of particular importance to the country’s development and the health of its people.

Garden Informations

Type:	Community Garden
Coordinator:	Africa Mauhayisi Mthombeni
Sibling with:	Baladin, Italy

Photos