By Matṧeliso Phulane
Maputsoe-based Action Lesotho will hold a one-day sack gardening workshop at Fobane in the Leribe district today to equip participants with skills to maximise agricultural production, generate income and grow the local subsistence economy.
Action Lesotho is an Irish non-profit organisation managed by a team of Basotho operating in the area of Maputsoe. It brings humanitarian aid from Ireland’s Country Kerry to Lesotho.
Its mission is to break the cycle of poverty by implementing projects aimed at improving health and nutrition, education, training, and horticulture skills. The organisation currently has four projects running focusing on orphans and vulnerable children.
In an interview with theReporter, the operations director of Action Lesotho, Thapelo Khasela, of Maputsoe said the workshop’s goal is to increase vegetable production and consumption as well as to enhance food security.
According to Khasela, sack gardening is also known as urban farming or smart farming. It is an unconventional way of growing crops that maximises yield from a small scale of land using sacks.
Sack gardening is a smart way of farming that has many benefits like saving water, recycling and it resilient to climate change.
“Action Lesotho started sack gardening in 2020 and supplied 300 sack gardens to 150 families around Maputsoe. Each 50kg sack carries 32 seedlings of spinach. It is perfect for people who do not have enough space for the conventional farming methods, the elderly people and those who live in rented houses. Apart from that, it is easy to set up and easy to maintain since it has no weeds.
“From 2020 until last year, Action Lesotho has trained people individually about sack gardening and its benefits. We are now focusing on groups of people who will monitor and carry out the project in their areas.
“The first group we trained was Mahloli Youth Empowerment and Development (MoYED), an organisation based in Motimposo Maseru. They are doing very well and they continue to train the Motimposo community on this smart farming,” he said.
Khasela noted that the project is also aimed at youths in the area of Maputsoe who have agricultural qualifications.
He also indicated that Action Lesotho will train selected participants on how to run a successful horticulture business.
“Everything that is required – tools and other resources – will be supplied by Action Lesotho with the aim to set up 35 thriving businesses for 35 youths. Action Lesotho aims to continue with the training nationwide, targeting groups or organisations that will be able to further train their communities after being trained.
“Sack gardening requires no skills, so it can be done by everyone. Anyone interested to be part of the training is more than welcome to join us at Fobane on October 6 to see how this amazing way of farming is done and its benefits thereof.
“I have seen people who have turned sack gardening into a successful business because they can now produce on a higher scale from their small land,” Khasela said.
Apart from sack gardening training, he added, the organisation also trains youth between the age of 18 to 35 on the use of industrial sewing machines, free of charge. The duration of the training is six weeks, and a certificate is issued upon completion.
