Working towards food security
Academics have united to find new and improved solutions.
WITH increasing poverty in communities, the ‘Kumnandi’ brand empowers rural organic farmers with training, mentoring and hope.
A dynamic team consisting of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States and the University of KwaZulu-Natal recently spent two weeks at the Siyavuna Abalimi Development Centre in Margate working on a project known as CREATE (Cultural, Research, Entrepreneurship and Technology Exchange).
The two-week information-sharing session aimed to look at the many synergies and areas of mutual economic development interests shared by the academics and Siyavuna.
Diane Pieters, director of Siyavuna, said the team had done a fantastic job working on two projects; enhancing livelihood development and communication and data systems.
Siyavuna is a non-profit organisation that reduces poverty by developing successful micro enterprises through farmers’ associations and co-operatives. It works closely with co-ops to assist them in developing new markets and finding ways to sell all the produce they receive from participating farmers.
A central aspect to their strategy is the social brand called ‘Kumnandi’ which delightfully means ‘delicious’.
The Kumnandi brand stands for freshly harvested, locally grown organic produce. As participating farmers sell their produce to their co-op, it is packaged and sold under the ‘Kumnandi’ brand.
Ms Pieters encouraged locals to support the brand as buying into the brand supports a family which will solve some of the problems such as unemployment and the worrying trends of importing fresh produce, climate change and water shortages.
