Small scale agroecological farming systems have been identified by the International Assessment
of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD 2008[1]), as
best means of addressing food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as
providing numerous environmental benefits such as increased biodiversity, reduced soil erosion,
reduced irrigation water consumption, reduced pesticide and fertilizer pollution of watercourses,

The rural homesteads at Ndakana in the Eastern Cape are sited on 2500m2 ?betterment scheme?
plots that typify land allocation in the former homelands of South Africa. Most householders have
livestock and cultivate crops in their small home gardens on a subsistence basis. Unfortunately
these household gardens have low yields of typically less than 2kg of food per square meter and
agroecological indicators for soil and crop life show that there is much opportunity for
improvement which can be gained of householders are given access to ecological literacy that
will unlock the current resource potentials.

The project aims to address the following challenges:
a) linking rural food security and financial security and climate change resilience (climat
change proofing) in a replicable model that can benefit the majority of rural households
in South Africa
b) provide a replicable sustainable model rural development that allows a typical rural
householders to effectively utilise their immediate natural and human resources by using
best agroecological practices to achieve sustainable food security, climate change
resilience.
c) to develop much needed agroecological support capacity within the Eastern Cape.