Tue Jan 09 09:05:00 UTC 2018
With access to drinking water and food security being a major challenge in the rural village of Tshavhalovhedz in Limpopo, the Shoprite Group partnered with the Mutshidzi Community Centre (MCC) to implement a number of sustainable solutions.
The MCC’s 14 members offer skills development and home-based care as part of their goal to help alleviate poverty for 300 needy people in the area. The organisation also operates a chicken coop to produce meat and eggs as well as a food garden that provides vegetables for their soup kitchen.
Unfortunately a lack of adequate infrastructure and access to water (both for drinking and irrigation) severely hampered the efforts of the MCC.
The Shoprite Group, along with its implementation partner Food & Trees for Africa, installed a borehole so that the MCC now has a sustainable source of water. With water tanks and an irrigation system in place, an extensive food garden could be established complete with medicinal herbs and fruit trees.
Infrastructure improvements included renovating the fence, building a toilet, installing composting units as well as moveable chicken pens for outdoor grazing.
The committed members of the MCC are now working to ensure a consistent production rate, so that they may soon be in position to sell their fresh produce in order to generate an income.