Foundations for Farming in Schools
Foundations for Farming is running a Unicef funded schools programme. The purpose of the programme is to teach children nutrition, using vegetable gardens that they will help to plant at their schools, along side that, they will also plant a Well Watered Garden (a 6m x 6m plot of maize planted using Foundations for Farming’s techniques) and will therefore learn how to farm sustainably. 55 Schools were in the programme during 2010-2011, and another 100 schools have been added this year after the initial success in the 55. Two teachers from each school have been trained by Foundations for Farming, and they in turn will teach their children during the academic year.
One such teacher was Mrs Ndebele, a 68 year old teacher at Mukwasha Primary School in Chegutu. She and her husband also run a small scale commercial farm in the Musengezi area. After attending the first Foundations for Farming workshop under the schools project in November 2010, she was fired up to share and implement what she had learnt not only with her school but also with her husband. Initially her husband was very skeptical about the idea of Foundations for Farming, since it stands in contrast to the conventional tillage practices he is used to.
After some convincing, Mr Ndebele agreed to allocate his wife a 20m x 30m portion of land to demonstrate Foundations for Farming. The condition he gave her was that she had to do it by her self without any assistance from their workers as he felt it was a waste of time. She was out there alone, measuring the field, digging the holes, and spacing them out meticulously, a few lines a day to an excellent standard. It cost her nothing but her own effort.
Mrs Ndebele followed all the major steps in Foundations for Farming operations, with thinning, weeding and top dressing all being done on time. Though Mrs Ndebele did not receive much assistance on her plot, her spirits were not dampened but actually strengthened her resolve as she, in her own words, “had faith” in what she had learnt.
Her harvest was very impressive, yielding 250kg which would equate to 4.2 tonnes/hectare. This was far much more compared to what the rest of the farm produced using the conventional farming method. Mrs Ndebele achieved a harvest that would be the envy of many younger women. But she is not stopping there and believes that those who have freely received must freely give. So she has decided then that such good news cannot be kept to one self and has resolved to teach others how to do Foundations for Farming.
Her husband and neighbours are now all convinced that Foundations for Farming works. Mrs Ndebele said, “it is better to do a small plot with good standards and higher yields than to have a big area with a low output.” She has become an agent of change and a hope for others around her.
Catherine Frampton