Lolo Madonsela
With the world fighting the spread of Covid-19, the pandemic has put strain on a lot of families as they struggle to make ends meet. Hence the Department of Agriculture & Rural Development has revived its food security programme.
The department has a One-Home-One-Garden (OHOG) Campaign that was launched some time ago. It was revived and re-launched in eMondlo last week Saturday by Premier Sihle Zikalala, together with all MECs from all provincial departments, including the district and local municipalities (as well as members of provincial parliament).
The OHOG Campaign aims to alleviate poverty and fight diseases. The 10 beneficiaries of the campaign were taught how to plant vegetable and fruit trees; they were also given seedlings, gardening tools, as well as a JoJo tank each to assist in harvesting rain water, as eMondlo is one of the communities facing water challenges.
One of the beneficiaries, Dumisani Nxumalo, said he was grateful for the support from government and was going to ensure that he continues tilling the ground so he is able to feed his family, and also make a profit from his garden.
“I was already farming in my small garden, so they came just in time, as I was hoping to grow my garden. I am more excited about the JoJo tanks, because I was really struggling with water. Sometimes we would go for over three days without water coming out of our taps. This JoJo tank will now make my job easy, I am very grateful for what the government has done,” said Nxumalo.
Also read: Food relief programme set to fight hunger
The Zululand deputy mayor, Cllr Kunene, said this was a good initiative by government to deal with poverty.
“This will help a lot of families in poverty alleviation and fighting diseases. Land is very important to us and therefore we should make use of it in a profitable manner so we are able to feed ourselves and also able to go into a market, where we will sell our vegetables to make money. This initiative should not end here, but should spread throughout Zululand, as this district relies mostly on agriculture. People also need to be enticed not just into farming veggies, but also livestock farming. We need to respect the land by utilising it accordingly. There are many products we get from the land, so if our people were taught and encouraged to use it as it was meant to be, poverty would be a thing of the past.
“We understand that there are water challenges in our district, but as a mother-body, we will ensure that people have access to water and that water tankers deliver water to the people as required,” said Kunene.
Schools, churches and businesses were encouraged to have gardens in their premises in order to continue the fight against poverty.
As a fight against food insecurities, cabbage and spinach were the most encouraged veggies to be planted and each household urged to plant a garden to help sustain their livelihood.
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