Climate-smart agriculture brings benefits to Qoboqobo

The ongoing climate-smart agriculture (CSA) programme in the Eastern Cape is helping participating farmers improve food productivity and food security.

The programme, jointly funded by SA and German government departments and agencies, was inaugurated in Qoboqobo with 40 households practising tower gardens.

Others are producing through rain water harvesting in Qoboqobo, where, starting 13 years ago, a drip irrigation system and water tanks were installed to irrigate crops.

Climate-smart agriculture is an approach that helps people improve their production while adapting to the effects of climate change, contributing to its mitigation, increasing productivity, food security and household incomes, while enhancing resilience of livelihoods and ecosystems.

The German government’s development agency, the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the German Embassy, the SA government’s national departments of agriculture, land reform and rural development, and forestry, fisheries and the environment, and the Eastern Cape department of rural development and agrarian reform have joined forces in a bid to invest in climate-smart agriculture at the time when scientists have increased warnings about the negative impact of climate change.

The programme seeks to introduce techniques to adapt to climate-induced water challenges and enhance household food security, identifying existing gaps on water strategies and climate-smart agriculture.

Agriculture and rural development, which is mandated to promote and implement climate-smart agriculture as one of its prominent programmes, worked with the forestry and environment department with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Working with rural development and agriculture in the province, the team conducted policy analysis, and identified gaps and opportunities in the current policies.

GIZ Climate Support Programme (CSP) programme manager Gregor Schmorl, who was accompanied by Oda Muhr from the German Embassy in Pretoria, expressed gratitude to the Qoboqobo community for allowing the entourage visit their homesteads to see their work.

“We want to provide support to you so that you can be able to produce food even in the difficult times of climate change,” Schmorl said.

Agriculture and rural development department director for water management and irrigation development, Mary Gabriel, who has been working in climate-smart agriculture initiatives for about 13 years, was excited about the programme. “We have come far with this programme. It’s been 13 years of tribulation, but today I am bursting with pride.

“These are among the most beautiful and productive gardens I have seen.

“I believe this programme needs expansion, and we will motivate for that.

“Let this programme explode and with our funders, GIZ, we will take your work to the future,” she said.

Retired agronomist Nomahlubi Shosha, one of the 40 tower garden beneficiaries, hailed the government and funders for bringing in innovative ways of producing food, saying water was not only scarce but also expensive.

“We thank the officials for coming up with something we did not know.

“This tower garden has assisted us a lot as it has reduced water usage, because you can even re-use the water with which you bath or wash clothes.

“These new techniques are assisting us to move forward as I now produce about 200 bunches of spinach in a 1m x 1m tower. This has maximised my area of production as I do not have enough land,” Shosha said.

Speaking on behalf of the 40 rain water harvesting beneficiaries using drip irrigation, Patricia Mpengesi pledged the support of households who had ventured into the programme, saying they would continue with it.

“As we are getting older, it was difficult to fetch water for irrigation, and sometimes the taps would dry up in this area, which severely affected our produce.

“Now that water harvesting tanks and drip irrigation have been installed, we no longer struggle with water, and our gardens are producing quality vegetables that we sell to local supermarkets, street vendors and community.

“Everything has been made easy with this system and I hope others can also benefit so we can have a food-secure nation,” she said.

Rural development and agrarian reform’s Amathole district director, Nyameka Bongco, said the programme, which was also being implemented in the North West and Mpumalanga provinces, was doing extremely well in the Eastern Cape.

“I am excited by what I’ve seen and I am extremely proud of the officials who went beyond the call of duty to make this a success.

“There is future food security in this programme and with the success I have seen, I envisage more participants wanting to join in because of the enthusiasm of the beneficiaries. This launch takes place at a good time as world leaders are discussing remedies to deal with climate change. We are coming up with practical solutions,” Bongco said.

At least 80 households received capacity development and the necessary skills to practically enhance the implementation of the climate change strategies.

The programme saw the installation of drip irrigation systems and two 2,500-litre water tanks to 40 households, while the tower gardens were installed in other 40 households.