Water & Agriculture
About this project
Herefords is a rural community situated in the Northern part of Swaziland under the Hhohho region. The community has a population of about 4, 464 within 735 households and an average monthly income of less than US $50. Agricultural produce mainly vegetables consumed within the community are imported from neighbouring country South Africa and are very expensive for people living under poverty conditions within the area. A variety of vegetables cost an average of US $5 per 10 kg. Further, the community depend on firewood as their source of fuel for coking whilst about 2000 tonnes per year waste is dumped in a dumping site. They travel a minimum of 15 kilometres to fetch the firewood for cooking purposes. Attempts have been done in the community to produce vegetables through use of irrigation, however, all have failed due to climate change effects. On other hand, biogas production is a new thing in the community and country as well which Herefords Community Waste Recycling Center is seeking to introduce.
Herefords Community Recycling Centre is an initiative that proposes that increasing the availability of reasonably priced home-grown produce, as a viable solution to alleviate the agriculture produce and energy problems in the community. It aims at producing a variety of vegetables through use of low cost hydroponics made from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes. It further aims at recycling organic waste produced within the community to produce biogas through a simplified biogas plant. Therefore, the centre provides a solution to two major problems of the community;
Lack of access to affordable variety of vegetables for low resource population living under poverty conditions in the rural area.
Lack of access to clean renewable energy for cooking purposes.
Goals and Objectives
Main objective
Improve accessibility to affordable agricultural produce, green energy and fertilizer among people living under poverty conditions at Herefords community.
Specific objectives
· To produce about 25, 000 vegetables using simplified hydroponics.
· To create awareness on use of hydroponics to produce agriculture produce and use less water in the community.
· To produce about 1000 m3 renewable energy (biogas) monthly for the community.
Expected result
- improved access to affordable agricultural produce mainly vegetables.
- improved access to clean renewable energy
Sustainable Development Goals
About me / organisation
Samkeliso Shabangu
When I started school seventeen years ago, unlike any other children who had success dreams, I only had one dream, “to grow up, leave my area”. Since I was a young child I don’t remember having clean safe water, I had to wake up very early every morning before going to school and travel about one and a half kilometres to fetch water and I would sometimes come back empty handed. As a result of travelling a long distance in the morning to fetch water I would sometimes be late for school. Growing up in a rural area where there is no clean water to drink or sometimes sharing drinking water with animals compelled me to pursue a career in Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and BioSystems Engineering (Land and Water Management) to gain more knowledge and information to be able to help my community to address water scarcity problems.
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