US Students at UKZN for Food Security Research

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UKZN’s School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences has for the third consecutive year hosted students from Cornell University in the United States to work on an ongoing partnership which explores issues of market access for small-scale farmers.

The group was again hosted by Dr Joyce Chitja, a Lecturer in the Discipline of Food Security. The Cornell delegation comprised two Masters students, Mr Steven Saavedra and Ms Sofia Yglesias, and a PhD student, Mr Zhen Han, who were led by Professor Anu Rangarajan, a senior Horticultural Scientist and Director of Cornell’s Small Farms Programme who has overseen the visits to UKZN since their inception.

The Cornell team is part of the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Team (SMART), a key programme of Cornell Institute of International Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) directed by Professor Ralph Christy, who was part of the first delegation to UKZN.

UKZN’s team, led by Chitja, included Mr Denver Naidoo, a PhD student and Lecturer in Food Security and Ms Suveshni Munien, a PhD student and Lecturer in Geography on the Westville campus. UKZN’s team was also joined by post-graduate Food Security students Mr Thami Majozi, Ms Hlengiwe Ngubane, Ms Thobeka Mkhize and Mr Vongai Murugani.

The group spent a week visiting Wartburg’s  Gcumisa Traditional Authority in Swayimani to collect data, train farmers in partnership with the Zimele NGO and the Department of Agriculture and to meet small-scale farmers in the area.

The second week of their stay involved a market visit with the farmers and doing an intensive analysis of their results.  The visit also included seminars and preliminary data outcomes discussions with agricultural stakeholders. 

Rangarajan said similar issues experienced by farmers in the United States and in South Africa were explored with regard to providing market access.

‘We took farmers to a produce market which they had never even seen before although they supply it,’ said Han, indicating one of the highlights of the trip was being able to expose farmers to new ideas regarding how to use their produce for commercial gain.

The on-going partnership allows for a fruitful, cross-continental collaboration which examines numerous issues faced by small scale rural farmers, particularly when it comes to market access. The partnership has proved successful in furthering research around these challenges, allowing for long-term studies to provide data demonstrating progress in various areas.

Previous research was presented at the 1^st International Conference on Global Food Security in Amsterdam last year.

-          Christine Cuénod