Agroecology in the middle of the capital city Mbabane

Promoting sustainable food systems in Eswatini through establishing an Urban Agroecology Training and Demonstration Center

PELUM Swaziland is establishing the first urban garden in the capital city Mbabane that will be used as an agroecology training and demonstration center.
The demonstrations will include a variety of agroecology and permaculture methods, such as rainwater harvesting and grey-water use, dry sanitation or compost toilets, an indigenous tree nursery and herb garden, compost area, natural building demonstration as well as hosting the weekly farmers market. The entire center will be run completely on solar energy.
The primary issue that the project aims to address is food sovereignty in the country and the center will serve as a platform to illustrate the various cost effective and ecologically sound methods people of Eswatini can employ to achieve household food sovereignty. Another challenge that the project aims to address is that of a shortage of locally grown clean food in the urban areas. A majority of the food sold in supermarkets is imported and this could change if more people learned to produce. The project also seeks to address the limited knowledge that people have on environmental issues especially those linked to food production.
Lastly, the center will provide a central location for all 16 member organisations to conduct training workshops and meetings with the farmers that they work with.

Project site

Mbabane (Map)

Beneficiaries

The direct beneficiaries of the project will be the 14 member organisations that PELUM Swaziland works with including the thousands of farmers that they serve. Secondary beneficiaries will be the city dwellers who will also have access to the center for civic education or even leisure purposes. The youth will also benefit because the center is located close to the school district of Mbabane and can serve as an educational center for planned excursions.

Project costs and assistance by sahee

The entire project costs are CHF 9’900.–. The project is fully financed by sahee.

sahee stays in regular contact with the project leaders, monitors the activities and visits the project once a year on site.

Duration of assistance

1st of January 2020 to 31st of December 2020

Local counterpart

Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Swaziland

Project site

www.pelum.org.sz/