gamothiba

Ga-Mothiba Community

The Ga-Mothiba community is one of the pilot sites CRCE is working with.
Ga-Mothiba is located 40 km north of Polokwane in the Limpopo Province. The community benefits traditional systems of land tenure and the population is engaged in rain fed farming and traditional livestock, keeping activities together with other sources of incomes.
CRCE involvement in this community concerns dry land agriculture, sustainable management of natural resources (soil, water, vegetative cover…) and youth support.

Natural Resource Management Platform

Due to the unreliability of the rains that mostly occur during summer, rain fed agriculture is less and less sustainable. After the heavy rains few water actually remain available in the soil water reserve for crops and other vegetation. Water run-off is amplified by the depletion of the vegetative cover due to an over-use (fire-wood, grazing…).
The CRCE collaborates with farmers groups in the area on water harvesting, land care strategies (trenching) and agro-forestry technique to improve rain-fed cropping system. The establishment of nurseries for the production of tree seedlings is one of the project wich has been undertaken.

With the support of the agricultural extension officer from the Department of Agriculture based in their area and the CRCE-UL, various farmers groups have formed a natural resources management platform. Through a PRA process, key issues to enhance a sustainable development process within the community have been set. A key aspect is the pro-active involvement of the community itself through interest groups in addressing the challenges.

Youth Information Centre
The youth development forum is formed by local youth groups engaged in different activities operating in Ga-Mothiba village.

It has been launched after the CRCE implemented a case study in the village using participatory extension approach. After the study was concluded and recommendations were presented to the community, the youth felt the need to have a common area to operate from as a collective. They were convinced that when working together they can advice and implement common ideas progressively. As part of the development forum, the CRCE suggested that the forum should support a building where all the youth activities could be hosted. The Mothiba Youth Information and Development Centre is built with the aim of hosting the following activities, coordinated by the youth of Ga-Mothiba: Video production, HIV/AIDS awareness, advice to teenagers, career guidance, agricultural production…

The forum requested the CRCE to support the building of a youth development and information centre.