Date of RUAF intervention: 2005-ongoing

Introduction | MPAP | From Seed to Table | Products | Contact

INTRODUCTION

The City of Cape is the southern most part of the African continent in the Republic of South Africa. It is a city of around 3.5 million people. It has a well developed infrastructure and is regarded on the continent as a rich city. There are however huge disparities between those who have and those that lack. Whilst there is a large section of the city that is wealthy and well-developed, there are also many people housed in ‘tin’ houses in the slums in Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Nyanga, and other low-income areas.

Approximately 32% of the Cape population lives below the poverty datum line which as at 1999 was R14500 per year. These poor areas comprise 60% of the Cape population. The city’s population is growing at the rate of 2.5% per year. Of this growth, up to 50,000 people come in as migrants annually. The unemployment rate is 26%. This contrasts sharply with the city’s status as the tourist capital of the country.

The city is situated by the sea. Its climate is therefore largely influenced by the ocean and is quite different from the more inland parts of the country. Whilst the rest of the country receives their rains in summer from November to March, Cape Town receives the bulk of its rain in winter, between April and August. Urban agriculture is therefore largely practiced during winter except where irrigation facilities are available.

MULTI-STAKEHOLDER POLICY FORMULATION AND ACTION PLANNING

The Training Of Trainers for Cape Town was conducted in 2007. Stakeholders from government departments, council departments, NGOs, and other civic groups attended the ToT supported by SNV Zimbabwe and attended by partners from Ndola in Zambia.

The stakeholder conducted field visits to both established and planned urban agriculture projects in the low-income areas of Nyanga and Khayelitsha. Abalimi Bezekhaya, a local NGO working to establish and run community gardens in Cape Town facilitated the field visits.

A core MPAP team was established operating at two levels; an active group at the operational level and a not-so-active yet important group at management level. At the ToT, the identified key stakeholders of the Cape Town Project were constituted into a core team of the project. Above this core team is another decision making body made up of people and institutions that have the authority to make decisions on higher order issues such as resources for the project.

The council approved the memorandum of understanding between MDP-RUAF and the City of Cape Town. The Executive Director for Development Facilitation was mandated by the council to sign the MOU on council behalf whilst the MDP Director will sign on behalf of MDP-RUAF. This MOU will give different council departments the mandate to work on the project and dedicate their time and other resources to the same.

A MPAP Planning Workshop was conducted in November 2007 to conduct the Situation Analysis of urban agriculture in Phillipi; and further develop the core group driving the MPAP process in Cape Town by bringing them together and help in team building. Key stakeholders such as the City of Cape Town, Abalimi, MJC, and different government departments were present at the workshop.

Results
There is increasing farmer empowerment. The MDP-RUAF trainings have brought to the same table farmers and authorities. For the first time, farmers realise that they can relate to authorities as partners and that there are services available like farmer support schemes that they could benefit from.

^{Community gardening                                                                                           UA at a clinic}

Probably the biggest impact has been on participatory city governance. There is a significantly higher level of participation by different stakeholders to the way UA is managed.

FROM SEED TO TABLE (FSTT)

The NGO partner implementing the project in Cape Town is Abalimi Bezekhaya who was one of the partners in the CFF project. Abalimi was already implementing a similar market focussed project involving over 130 farmers of 18 community gardens. The FSTT project in Cape Town is therefore different than the other FSTT cities in that it does not seek to introduce marketing, but it seeks to grow the project. The Abalimi project known as ‘Harvest of Hope’ had its own challenges. Consultants designed the project with no farmer involvement in the processes of planning and market identification. There are therefore challenges associated with quality control and targets since farmers do not fully appreciate their importance. Abalimi has therefore taken advantage of the FSTT project to bring their farmers to full understanding of the processes.

At the start of FSTT, Abalimi produced about 100 boxes of mixed vegetables per week. The FSTT project will assist them increase the output per week to 250 boxes by June 2010. Additional farmers were therefore selected so that production can be increased. Current farmers are also being encouraged to increase output towards the set target.

Farmer Training and the Diagnostic Process
Even farmers that were already producing were involved in the training in order to get them to understand how the project was formulated, how the market was identified, and the details of market expectations. The selection of the most promising option (MoPO) was different in that they are already supply a basket of products. This was therefore not done for Cape Town. The farmers were however exposed to the tools of planning and analysis such as seasonal calendar and product chain mapping. The farmers found the experience extremely helpful and enriching.
‘This is very important for us. We have learnt to plan properly for production and we will do this even outside of this project whenever we practice agriculture,’ one lady said

Business and Project Planning
The Cape Town team was also part of the regional group that went to Ndola, Zambia for the regional training. The team was happy to be learning how to do business planning because they were in the midst of doing their business plan for their project. The experience gained during the training helped them successfully conclude their plan. They also were particularly happy with planning for Urban Producer Field Schools (UPFS). ‘This approach is really useful and hands-on. This is the sort of approach that works for Abalimi and will be appreciated by our farmers,’ one of the participants commented.

The MSF and Strategic Agenda
A multi-stakeholder forum was established in the city under the CFF project. The forum was not doing well in terms organizing activities and meetings. The coordination was given to one of the NGOs, MJC since the beginning of the year. The individual who was responsible for coordination was found to be too busy. The stakeholders therefore decided that the city council assists the MJC with coordination. The individual responsible for coordination was also changed and replaced with one who would come in with renewed energy. This should bring new life into the forum. One of the key assignments of the MSF is to update and upgrade the Strategic Agenda. The Cape Town Agenda was rather thin on detail and requires attention.

PRODUCTS

• Situation Analysis
• City Strategic Agenda

• South Africa: great short online doc about organic micro-farming (Abalimi)

CONTACT

Regional Coordination of the RUAF Cities Farming for the Future Programme
MDPESA (Municipal Development Partnership Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office)
M 7th Floor, Hurudza House
14-16 Nelson Mandela Avenue, Harare, Zimbabwe
P 263-4-774385
F 263-4-774387
Regional coordinator: Mr. Takawira Mubvami
E tmubvami@mdpafrica.org.zw
W www.mdpafrica.org.zw

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