For the first time, EarthLore Foundation’s annual South African Seed and Food Fair will be held in Venda. Limpopo, rather than in Mpumalanga province.
The event will take place on Wednesday 11th October, from 9h00 to 16h30, in Mazwimba village, Vhembe district, in Venda. It is sure to be a festive, joyous and colourful celebration.
The Mazwimba community is united in wanting to provide a memorable experience for visitors who will be attending the Mazwimba seed fair, including six farmers from Bikita. Rural farmers from the Umjindini and Albert Luthuli municipalities in Mpumalanga will also be attending, as well as farmers from Gauteng and from Zululand, KwaZulu Natal.
The programme includes speeches by dignitaries and specially invited guests and representatives of farmer organisations who will have an opportunity to introduce their work and share dancing and singing. Many farmers will be wearing traditional clothing and traditional meals will be served for lunch.
This year the theme is “Diversification of traditional seed improves productivity and food security” with the message at the seed fair being the importance of planting diverse crops for health and food security. The area is well suited to growing fruit trees like avocados and mangoes, and growing tubers like sweet potatoes and madhumbe that do well in wetter areas. Various varieties of pumpkin and melons also grow well in the area. What is lacking is a reliable staple. Traditional varieties of maize that are more robust and better adapted to the increasingly variable climate, tend to do well, but hybrid maize, the crop that has been promoted for decades consistently underperforms, especially as extreme events associated with climate change become regular occurrences.
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- Svoboda Millet
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- Finger Millet
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- Pearl Millet
FAO has declared 2023 The Year of Millets and the Mazwimba farmers are excited to revive millet that was once grown in the area but has virtually disappeared. Venda is at the southern end of the millet belt that extends into areas of Zimbabwe, like Bikita, and further north.
Bikita is becoming recognised as a significant producer of millet. Several Mazwimba farmers recently returned from an inspiring trip there for the Bikita Seed and Food fair in Zimbabwe and are excited and eager to plant millet this growing season. They witnessed firsthand the abundant pearl millet harvest in Bikita and heard inspirational stories of change from farmers who made the switch from maize to millet in 2016.
The farmers EarthLore works with are realising the importance of planting an increasing diversity of their local seeds and crops like sorghum, millet, pumpkins, wild greens, beans, peas, groundnuts, and other legumes, as well as food-producing trees to build resilience to climate change and to provide better and healthier nutrition. This contributes to small-scale farming once again becoming recognised as a viable way of life that regenerates relationships between people, food and ecosystems, and reverses the damage to soils caused by chemical fertilisers and pesticides, especially Roundup, that research shows is poisoning our food and water, and “likely to kill 93% of endangered species”.
EarthLore’s annual Seed and Food Fairs provide important opportunities to share seeds and knowledge, and to network and build connections that are part of a growing movement supporting small scale producers to become seed and food sovereign and provide diverse, healthy and nutritious food for African communities.
