Make Sara Skulpad
A major highlight of this year’s Mazwimba Seed and Food Fair, in October 2023, in the South African province of Limpopo, was the opportunity for farmers to display produce from their fields and gardens together with wild fruits, foods, herbs and medicinal plants.
There were a few displays of individual farmers but most were community exhibits. Host community, Mazwimba, attracted a lot of attention.with its diversity of seeds, vegetables and other produce.
There was also an abundance of some seeds and pulses, indicating that farmers have produced sufficient seeds for the coming planting season. It came as no surprise that Mazwimba was awarded first prize for best display, well-deserved recognition for their efforts.
Second prize went to Julius Mkhonto, a small farming community in Elukwatini, Mpumalanga province. They had traveled to Venda as part of a learning exchange within the EarthLore family of communities. Christmas arrived early for them this year. They were delighted and have used the prize money to buy much needed materials to fence their communal garden that unattended livestock regularly raid.
Make Sara Skulpad was especially proud of her community’s achievement. She was amongst the first farmers EarthLore started working with in Elukwatini in 2015. From simple beginnings, where she was one of the women working in a communal garden in the school grounds at Julius Mkhonto and using chemical fertilisers that burnt their plants and damaged the soil, Make Skulpad is now recognised as one of the best small-scale agroecology (AE) farmers in the area. She works in two gardens: one at the school that has expanded to 100m x 100m, and the other in her family’s backyard. She is taking big strides towards having these gardens flourishing with vegetables.
Her well-maintained home garden is an excellent AE demonstration with its diversity of edible plants and effective management of soil and water. Currently her garden has mustard, carrots, onions, tomatoes, spinach, beetroot, garlic, chillies, chaya and lettuce. Herbs include wild dagga, artemisia, comfrey, yarrow and basil. Avocados, pomegranates, peaches, lemons and oranges complement the garden, adorned by a granadilla creeper.
AE trainer, John Nzira, from Ukuvuna, has identified Make Skulpad as one of EarthLore’s leading farmers in South Africa. She is doing such good work in her own homestead gardens that she should be sharing her knowledge and teaching others through in-field learnings and farmer exchange visits.
Make Skulpad’s focus is on growing vegetables for business and to share with her family. Her husband, who lost his job a couple of years ago, is now helping with the new backyard garden and he is doing very well growing vegetables. While still employed, he bought a water tank to alleviate the ongoing water challenges. Another challenge is when livestock get into the gardens and eat the vegetables before they are harvested. However, Make Skulpad is determined not to let these setbacks deter her. She shares knowledge with whoever seeks assistance. “I am assisting more than 30 people with starting their gardens. Some are my neighbours, as well as my relatives in KwaZulu Natal and Witbank. My daughters, who are 30, 28 and 24 years old, help me in my garden and inspire me.”
Another source of inspiration was when Make Skulpad joined a group of women farmers on a wilderness experience in the Drakensberg mountains 17-22 December 2018, exactly 5 years ago. One of the guides was a woman in her late 50s, who carried a heavy backpack up the mountain. This inspired Make Skulpad and made her determined to persevere and achieve whatever she sets out to do. The word skulpad is Afrikaans for tortoise and like this determined creature that carries its home on its back, Make Skulpad’s progress has been steady and sure. She is now recognised as a committed and successful farmer and is growing increasingly confident in the work she loves. This has encouraged her to revive the tradition of passing on her growing knowledge of traditional and agroecological farming practices, water harvesting, seed selection, storing and sharing, preparation of nutritious traditional food, to young women so that they can be successful farmers too and contribute to the well-being of their family and the wider community.
