The mission of Phakamani Siyephambili is to advance agroecology and food sovereignty by enabling agroecological producers to use their local and indigenous knowledge to produce an abundant supply of nutNCt rich organic produce, and advance their socio economic, political and ecological interests to achieve greater equity.
The initiative was launched in 2013. At the end of 2019, the initiative included 783 members across three municipalities and 13 geographical areas in the Sarah Baartman district. The initiative operates across 100 farming/food production systems involving small-sale farmers, who accessed land through the government’s various land reform strategies, farm workers and dwellers who live and work on commercial farmland, school gardens, township and informal garden and vegetable plots.
After receiving training in agroecological farming practices, women micro-food producers came together and united with the main aim of producing and marketing food, as well as collectively saving money. Women engaged the local municipality to access land that they plan to use co-operatively for food production.
In 2019, through the East Cape Agricultural Research Project (ECARP), a considerable number of children were incorporated into the initiative : 130 school children from 6 schools in Grahamstown were trained in agroecological farming practices.
