The training numbers speak for themselves, with 102 beneficiaries in total attending the full three days of our Free Organic Vegetable Production Course in October 2011. Siyavuna Development Centre has been pulling out all the stops to deliver the organic message to our beneficiaries and to have trained 102 of them in organic food gardening in one month is phenomenal! A total of 4 organic training courses were facilitated at various venues in 3 different areas we work in.

In the Hibicus Coast Municipality 3 organic training courses were facilitated, the first one at Nkampini in the Gcilima tribal area, running from 4/10 to 6/10. A total of 17 beneficiaries completed all 3 days of training.

The second training was held at Mhlalandini in the Gcilima tribal area, from 11/10 to 13/10. A total of 23 beneficiaries completed all 3 days of training.

The third training was held at Thongasi in the KwaNzimakwe tribal area, from 18/10 to 20/10. A total of 39 beneficiaries completed all 3 days of training. Impressive numbers, as this is a new collection point and the interest shown by the community is gratifying.

In the Umdoni Municipality 1 training course was held at Malangeni, from 4/10 to 6/10. A total of 23 farmers completed all 3 days.

This all adds up to 102 beneficiaries trained in the basics of organic production. On top of this SDC also facilitated an advanced M3 training, aimed at upskilling farmers who are showing the potential to move from homestead organic production to larger scale organic production.

An M3 training was held at SDC’s offices in Margate Ext 3 on 11/10. This training was attended by the Community Field Workers (CFW’s) from the aread around the 7 collection points that are active at present (1 in Nositha, 2 in KwaNzimakwe, 3 in Gcilima and 1 in Malangeni) and 11 lead farmers from these areas, giving us a total of 18 beneficiaries equipped with more advanced organic agricultural skills. We’ll go into more depth on the M3 process in a future blog post.

That was the month of October in a nutshell. Credit is due to SDC’s agricultural staff, as 102 beneficiaries trained in the basics of organic vegetable production in one month is a phenomenal achievement! Viva Siyavuna, Viva!