RoC’s E630 000 for 16 schools

By Khulile Thwala

The Republic of China on Taiwan has donated water tanks, reservoirs, and gardening tools through the Taiwan-Africa Vegetable Initiative (TAVI) worth E630 000 to 16 schools.

This is part of a three-year project jointly implemented by the World Vegetable Centre and the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training. The project aims to support the conservation, production, and utilisation of traditional African
vegetables to improve food and nutrition security.

At least 16 pilot primary schools have benefitted through the establishment of traditional vegetable gardens which are used as a learning tool and to produce vegetables that have been incorporated and used in diversifying school meals.

As the project was implemented in the pilot schools, it was observed that most of these schools lacked proper garden tools and irrigation water shortages. Therefore, the project sponsors approved the procurement of water tanks/reservoirs and garden tools for these schools.

This will help schools conserve water and for some even reduce water costs. It was stated that with the issue of climate change where extreme weather conditions result in low survival of exotic vegetables, cultivating indigenous African vegetables is another measure to mitigate the effects on food security and health.