ZIZEMELENI

In 2019, the Die Kop community requested a meeting with Food 4 Thought where the community expressed their frustration with the lack of settlement infrastructure, economic development and education, skills, and training.

After a three-hour meeting with the community, we all agreed to initiate an Agriculture Cooperative programme on three hectares of land surrounding the school.

On 1 May 2019, the Zizemeleni Primary Cooperative was established with 150 cooperative members and elected a board.

Food 4 Thought secured the use of state land situated around the school, with the aim to establish two large agriculture sites. The smaller, acting as a demonstration and training site, of approximately 2 hectares, serving as a developmental base for cooperative members, growing towards a larger commercial scale. Our approach toward regenerative agricultural practices has been shown to be more resilient in times of drought.

The land at Die Kop is sea-sand and small brush, mostly alien vegetation, and it has taken the Zizemeleni team five years to build the soil on the 2 hectares and the making of compost is a crucial component of this project.  Currently all water management has been contracted to a French company whose responsibility is to manage the water at Die Kop.  The Cooperative has decided to raise the money for a borehole, as Die Kop has a large aquifer under it.

Zizemeleni (get up and do it for yourself) has been very successful supplying vegetables and fruit to the local market and the Funimfundo Crèche.  The Cooperative is ready to scale as the basic infrastructure has been set up, which includes basic fencing, basic water infrastructure, nursery, container shed for tool storage.

The Cooperative has been producing veg and training workers while establishing the basic infrastructure and now has ambitions to commercialise and spread to broader markets. The Cooperative has identified gooseberry and granadilla as focus crops to increase income and create sustainable employment.

The Cooperative members have proved to be a resilient and super-tenacious group of people who have taken this Cooperative to where it is today.  Their commitment to this project has been so impressive that local farmers pop in and share knowledge.  The Zizemeleni Cooperative, with support, has an excellent future ahead.