A local permaculturist turned a dumpsite where he lives into a productive farm during the start of the lockdown period last year.

John Nzira, who is also the founder of Ukuvuna non-government organisation, said he decided to help communities to sustain themselves through farming after many families lost their breadwinners during the Covid-19 lockdown. Nzira was meant to travel to Malawi at the beginning of last year but found himself stuck in South Africa. He decided to keep himself busy and used his free time to turn the dumpsite into a farm.

“Though this is our centre, we have worked in Limpopo where we are trying to set up hubs for agroecology [ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems] and sustainable living,” he said. “Just like the one in Midrand, our hubs will have a place for demonstrations, a farm, a training unit, a seed bank, vegetable production, nurseries generating plants and we will also do livestock farming.” He added that the organisation was trying to make do with what they have in their operating areas while trying to generate income and resources.

“The idea came about when I got trained in permaculture which is a system of self-reliance, where one has to understand their environment and how it can be taken care of while generating food. “For example, if our communities can generate onions and sell them in their communities, they could circulate money inside their community as well, instead of giving their community’s money away to big companies.” Nzira said that they also offered training on farming techniques, permaculture and offering support to people to develop their gardens.

Details: Visit www.ukuvuna.org/ukuvuna.org or send an email to [email protected]

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