The Urban Agriculture Programme - Municipal Development ...

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the techniques they had learnt.poultry management and technologies for UA. Otheractivities now relate to training the farmers in variousAt the end of the workshop, it was agreed to create working methods of managing water and techniques for growinggroups that would undertake some of the components of the various crops introduced. Work on lining the waterthe situation analysis. canal started end of February 2008.The Cape Town workshop was conducted from 5 to 9 The farmers have organized themselves into 17 groups forNovember 2007. This was timed to come after the purposes of easy coordination. These make up the 120appointment of the Local Coordinator who benefited fromthe activity as well as assist in it. Key stakeholders such asthe City of Cape Town, Abalimi, Muslim Judicial Ccouncil,and different government departments were representedat the workshop. The Cape Town workshop was both a Farmers who are included in the pilot. These are the firsttraining and planning workshop. It sought to achieve two 120 fields at the plantation.main objectives; the first objective was to develop theproject core team members' capacity to conduct the Cape Town Pilot Project to Focus on MarketSituation Analysis of urban agriculture in Phillipi; the Orientation and Organic Farmingsecond was to further develop the core group driving theMAP process in Cape Town by bringing them together andThe pilot project for the City of Cape Town focuses onhelp in team building.enhancing farmers' capabilities to compete in theagriculture market as well as promote wider acceptance ofThe impact of the workshop was to create capacity toorganic farming. The multi-stakeholder group in the cityunderstand the MPAP process amongst a wider group ofagreed to support a pilot project proposal submitted by onestakeholder. It also created capacity for implementing theof the partners in the group, the Muslim Judicial CouncilSituation Analysis for Philipa-Fezuka area. Working teams(MJC). Key objectives of the proposal include trainingon the various aspects of the situation analysis werefarmers in order to enhance their capacity to produce forcreated.the market. This will be achieved through training them atthe MJC farm where the fourteen farmers will be exposedhands-on to crop growing and farm management.PILOT PROJECTS PROGRESSING WELLPilot projects embarked on in the three pilot cities ofBulawayo, Ndola and Cape Town and the disseminationcities of Maputo and Nairobi are progressing well.Bulawayo Gum Plantation Pilot Takes ShapeThe pilot project at the Gum Plantation inBulawayo seeks to improve treatedwaste water supply to the farmers at theplantation through lining the main canalto reduce losses through seepage. It alsoseeks to introduce new UA activities likebee-keeping and diversify the variety ofcrops at the plantation. Implementationof the pilot project started in October2007. The Gum Plantation Pilot ProjectSteering Committee was constituted.This comprises AREX, Chairperson ofthe Plantation, BCC, and SNV. Thecommittee is responsible for the daytoday running of the plantation. Initialassessment of infrastructure at the sitehas been undertaken. Seed packs wereprocured for the farmers and landprepared. Farmers were trained invarious activities like horticulture,A key component of the training will be packaging andbranding for the market. This will enable the emergingfarmers' produce to compete with that of establishedfarmers in the tough competition for the market. The MJCare developing a packaging shade where the produce issorted as well as cold rooms to extend the shelf life of theproduce. The farmers will have the opportunity toThe Cape Town MPAP team assesses the suitability of the MJC pilot project sitePage4
produce, pack, and brand their produce during training.They will also be exposed to the market and even get ashare of the profit.Another key component of the pilotproject is the promotion of organic farming. This will bedone to achieve two strategic objectives. Firstly this is partof a global movement towards the promotion of healthyeating and improving the nutrition of the beneficiaries. Thesecond purpose for promotion of organic farming is part ofa bigger objective to improve urban environmentalmanagement through the uptake of urban organic wastes.In Cape Town there are already other partners in the MPAPprocess who are promoting organic farming and theseshould help in the pilot project. Abalimi have establishedthemselves well in both organic farming and marketing oforganic produce. Their harvest of hope project will be auseful ally of this pilot project.The other component of the pilot is the mentorshipprogramme that operates at two levels. An establishedfarmer has been identified who should mentor theemerging farmers by interacting with the farmers andteaching through positive peer influence. The emergingfarmers will be expected to share their experiences withfive subsistence farmers in the poor suburbs of Phillipi andKhayelitsha to increase the reach of the knowledge gainedon organic farming and the market.Ndola Nutrition Garden EstablishedThe pilot project at New Kaloko has been finalized.Activities started mid-March. The pilot is about designing anutrition garden for the community. Farmers have beentrained in community management and issues of nutrition.The Ndola Nutrition Group, a local community basedNGO, is implementing the project. The project involves 40members and will be replicated on land that has alreadybeen identified. The project intends to improve thenutrition uptake of malnourished children in theneighborhood. The main objectives of the project include: Reduce the rate of malnutrition in OVCs by 30% Participating 40 members to produce 70% of health andnutritious food like vegetables and poultry. Using manure raised from poultry in the garden forvegetable production Skills development for the 40 participating memberswho will apply the skills learnt in their own gardens. Making water available all year round to water thegardens. Reducing the cost of production by 30% as the organicmanure from poultry will be used in the gardens andexcess chicken manure will be sold.Pilot Projects to be identified under theCompetitive BiddingThe first was the Nairobi Based Urban Farmers' Initiatives.The project is on the use of composting for urbanagriculture. The group of farmers involved in the projecthave been involved in farming for a long time. This projecthas been implemented since August 2007. It is located inthe Kasarani Ngumba area of Nairobi about 10 km from theNairobi project farmers with Charles Mbugua(coordinator) seatedCity centre along Thika Road. To date the project hasmanaged to buy bags for sorting the domestic waste andsome seed packs for the farmers. They are in the process ofpurchasing a pump for irrigation.The other project is by the Youth for CommunityDevelopment of Maputo. The project involves starting UAgardens at hospitals, schools and churches in the city inorder to benefit HIV affected households and otherdisadvantaged groups in the city. All stakeholders in thecity have recommended this project. Funds were releasedin August and activities are now being implementedaccording to agreed work plans. The project bought someseed packs and has installed some simple irrigationequipment at the sites where the project is taking place.Bulawayo Completes Revision of UA PolicyA new UA policy document encompassing the views of awide range of stakeholders has been produced. The UAStakeholder Forum and the city council have approved thedocument. The policy starts by defining UA and refers tosome weakness of the policy guidelines approved in 2000before providing policy guidelines on land, water, financeand livestock. This policy is much more comprehensivethan the 2000 guidelines.Bulawayo UA Strategic AgendaThe bulawayou UA strategic agenda has been produced.The agenda highlights some of the activities to beundertaken by stakeholders. AREX for example is going tobe responsible for the training and capacity buildingPage 5
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