Lusikisiki co-op feeds hundreds of people every day
Sisanda initiative believes locals should supply supermarkets
A group of five villagers from Thaweni village in Lusikisiki celebrates “food day” every day through their Sisanda co-operative.
The vegetable and poultry farming project feeds the coop’s families and hundreds of villagers, as well as schools around the area.
One of the founding members, Nontsapho Ntlawuzana, 60, said the co-op was started in 2010 as a means to develop the villages.
“We want to one day own a farm and supply big supermarkets across the province and also create job opportunities for our people,” said Ntlawuzana.
“There is a huge demand for vegetables in our villages and we are also fighting to see that local farmers provide produce to our stores instead of the huge [produce] trucks coming from other provinces to do our job.”
The three women and two men dug deep into their pockets and raised R10,000 to start the project and they currently employ two young people.
She said the majority of people in the area were unemployed and poverty was rife. This meant they sold their fresh produce at affordable prices.
In their 4ha piece of land at the moment are mainly spinach, cabbage and beetroot.
Eggs are in high demand. They have 1,200 hens recently donated by the OR Tambo district municipality.
They supply their produce to five local schools.
Ntlawuzana said: “We go to households where gardens are not used and ask to use them and we continue to grow every day.”
Lack of water and training are some of their challenges.
Ntlawuzana said: “We are in dire need of boreholes here as it hardly ever rains. We started this project with the little knowledge of farming that we learnt from our parents. We need the government to help us with training in order to soar.
“We spend thousand of rands buying the water and materials we need. It is all worth it though, because our goal is to be bigger and better.”
“Farming is important – especially here. It’s something good for our wellbeing. We want to continue doing this and help change the village.”
Ntlawuzana said they also made food donations to six homesteads in the village that are child-headed.
“We give them eggs and vegetables every month.
“We are doing our best to assist the community and I urge other people to farm too.”
Zamile Ntlawuzana said the only produce he still buys from supermarkets is maize meal and rice.
“We feed our families with this initiative, but we need more interventions so we can create employment, especially for the young people,” he said.
“We want this to be the norm for every household in order to curb poverty.”
Other members of the co-op are Ntombomzi Magubane, Lindiwe Shezi and Mihla Ntlawuzana.
OR Tambo municipal spokesperson Zimkhita Macingwane said: “We make food production our priority to fight poverty and hunger in our rural areas. ”
She said the municipality would support the co-op for the next three years.