1.BACKGROUND

Permaculture is the ideal method to build communities. It is an agro-ecological process and it is much more than other systems of land use management. It is a response to the environmental crisis we face on our planet. The polluted water of Nzhelele river (pictures below) is a sign of soil erosion from cultivated fields or cultivation on the banks of the rivers. It is a sign that there is little knowledge on conservation farming in the area.

The way we live and work now is eating into the natural capital of the planet and more and more people are becoming aware of the impact of our practices; global warming being but one of these. Permaculture or agroecology and sustainable living are synonymous. Permaculture is about designing a system to provide that which we need by integrating it into the local ecology. Thus we become “part of” rather than “separate from” nature, natural systems and cycles.

The cutting down of trees indiscriminately along Nzhelele river had left the ecological structures bare, with the river silted and all deep pools had disappeared.

To achieve our vision, on 16 -20 December 2011 we conducted training for rehabilitating the Nzhelele River at Mphaila Village and greening of Patrick Ramaano School. At least 614 indigenous tree seedlings were planted and over 30 village members participated. The program was directed by Vhakadzi Mphatheleni, facilitated by me with the assistants of Mr Maxwell Khumalo. Ukuvuna-Urban farming has worked with Mupo in Vhembe District, Makhado and Thulamela local municipality to reclaim and rehabilitate the eroded and silted Nzhelele River. Our focus was to encourage participants to grow a wide variety of indigenous trees for protecting sacred sites, rehabilitate eroded rivers and greening up the communities in the district. In the communities, we targeted the tribal authority offices and the schools. The entry point was to capacity build local people, especially women, to propagate a wide variety of indigenous trees in their own community.
Some of the tree seedlings from Netshidzivhe

Some of the tree seedlings from Netshidzivhe

The nursery training was facilitated in 2009 and members of three communities produced thousands of indigenous trees in their own nurseries. One of the three communities was a shining star; they produced far ahead of others, producing over 90% of the total trees seedlings produced in all three villages. Their seedlings are very healthy and are of good quality and the trees that have been used to rehabilitate the river came from their home based nurseries.

Polluted water of Nzhelele River

Stones germinating along Nzhelele River

Some of the tree seedlings from Netshidzivhe

2. TRAINING OBJECTIVES

The following objectives were set for this training program:

  • Pre-plan program activities with Vhakadzi Mphatheleni at place
  • Conduct meetings with Chief of Netshidzivhe and Mphaila respectively
  • Collect trees at Nesthidzivhe nurseries and deliver them at Mphaila Village
  • Facilitate the process of designing the garden at Heritage Center at Patrick Ramaano School
  • Facilitate plant different indigenous trees at the Heritage centre
  • Design the process of planting trees along Nzhelele river
  • Facilitate plant different indigenous trees along Nzhelele river
  • Design a water-saving system at Heritage centre.
  • Spread the empowerment of individuals and communities with the knowledge and skills to take care of forest
  • Educate and motivate the on-going tree planting and maintenance at household and community level.
  • Broaden the base for conservation farming and food security within the households.
  • Strive to promote, teach, uplift and educate all issues relating to environment, climate change, soil erosion, community participation, sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity, water and waste management to steer us into a new and sustainable path towards a better future
  • Provide proactive social-ecology awareness programs in conservation and food security programs, starting at household level as a framework for sustainable development
  • Actively support the Millennium Development Goals using a holistic approach and Permaculture strategies

3. APPROACH FOLLOWED

The program was a participatory process as the adults have experiences that are important in the decision making process and development of community projects. Therefore, the mutual agreement on what was expected during the training was developed. We all also looked into long-term goals based on the LANDSCAPE and QUALITY OF LIFE of the local community. For QUALITY OF LIFE, we consider the cultural events like the Tshikona as part of the ecological component. Below we captured the Tshikona dance at the Chief Netshidzivhe. This was a year end ritual to honour to the GODs for all their support and protection in 2011. For our tree planting event, it was good to attend Tshikona as a way of respecting and seeking blessings to the Gods of the area.

Meeting at Chief Mphaila place with Dzumo LaMupo member

Practicals were carried out during the development of the garden. These were used to redesign the garden to improve productivity and troubleshoot challenges within the garden project. The training consisted of 20% discussion and 80% practical. The discussion was covered to address the philosophy of biodiversity and conservation, and how it links with approaches to food production and poverty alleviation. Discussion involved the chiefs, as well as the participating members.

4. ACHIEVEMENTS & CHALLENGES

Participation

The project was successful because of participation from all levels of the community. The stakeholders included the Tribal Authorities, the Schools, Government- department of education and department of Agriculture. Beneficiaries included the youth, pensioners, unemployed men, and women. Members took ownership of the project. During the implementation, they were able to decide on what was best for the project. The photos below indicated the involvement of adults, youth, and pensioners.

Information sharing

Learning how to identify plants 

Gender

We had the opportunity to discuss the names of the trees in local, botanical and English names. I showed a few members how to identify trees in the botany books i.e ‘Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa’ B. Van Wyk & P. Van Wyk, 1997. The book recommends users to identify trees by observing the tree structure, most specifically the leaves. The Van Wyks grouped trees by its leaf patterns and it was easier for some of the members to identify local indigenous plants. Therefore, it was recommended that Mupo office should have reference indigenous tree books for its members.

In our programmes, we strive to have gender balance. In this programme, men and women participated equally. Although we had more women than men, there were no specific jobs either for female or male. Digging, planting, watering or loading trees in the truck was done by both sexes, but women were the driving force. There were 20 women and 7 men that were trained in the project.

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. I envisage on-going maintenance of tree planted at the centre
  2. Envisage on-going monitoring tree seedlings planted along Nzhelele river
  3. Further expand the planting program for trees planted along Nzhelele river
  4. Further training on permaculture at the centre is a pre-requisite
  5. Seed saving monitoring and identifying a self- motivated project officer to replace Tshilidzi is required.
  6. We recommend further workshops in schools for indigenous plant gardens and permaculture
  7. Continue planting trees in heritage centres and in tribal authority centres
  8. Further training local people on the difference between indigenous and exotic plants

6. CLOSURE

Ukuvuna-Urbanfarming takes pride in their achievements of creating sustainable projects that improve the lives of communities and minimizes the effects of climate change.

“Will the ecosystems of the future, which are being shaped today, continue to function in such a way that the quality of human life we have come to know and expect continue?”