Focus on Zolani Booi—Making a Difference with Community Gardens and Farming God's Way.

After interviewing Zolani Booi, I believe that the phrase, 'Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime' pretty much sums him up. In Zolani's case, however, it is perhaps more correct to say, 'Teach a man to grow food, and he will feed his community.'

Zolani Booi is a man driven by God. He is selfless and puts other's needs before those of his own. Before becoming a Real Estate Agent, he studied for a Marketing Management Diploma at the former Port Elizabeth Technikon. Zolani also sold insurance, administrated rental properties and provided casual labour to companies. After losing his job during Covid, he decided to seek jobs with Non-Governmental Organisations to give him more job satisfaction. Zolani is still involved with some property management at Walmer Links, which provides him with some income for his wife and four children.

After Zolani joined Joy to the Nations Church, he became actively involved in the Foundation of Joy. The Foundation is a registered not-for-profit company operating in Walmer, Gqeberha. Like in most of South Africa, unemployment levels are high here. The Foundation of Joy seeks to help break the cycle of poverty through various ministries operating within this Foundation. These include:

• The Jesu Club (Good news for job seekers)

• Food for Africa (Food parcels for the poor)

• Jesu Gardens (Organic produce)

• Heart for Alternatives (Pregnancy Crisis Centre)

• Joy Stitches (Sewing, knitting, crocheting and beading classes aimed at generating an income for the members)

Zolani is one of the directors of the Foundation of Joy, along with Glenn Weiss, Glenn Passanah and Khaya Nkumbesi. He is actively involved with the Jesu Club (Joy Employment and Skills Upliftment), creating a database for job seekers, assisting them with their CVs, and providing informal training. This initiative has been running for nearly three years. Kanyisa, Zolani's wife, cooks a hearty meal for participants, which they can eat at these regular Wednesday meetings, held between 9 and 10 am. In turn, these job seekers contribute to the community once a month by picking up litter and clearing out bush in the area, which is called the Love Walmer project. Dry food parcels are also distributed at these meetings to assist participants in surviving this tough economy.

During Covid, Zolani lost his job as an estate agent and realised that plenty of people were worse off than himself. As a result, he started making food for these less fortunate individuals he came into contact with. This is when he first met up with Joy to the Nations Church and joined forces with Food for Africa to better feed the local Walmer community. Their food parcels are widely sought after by poor and hungry community members. The food for the parcels are donated by church members, the community, and local businesses.

When Farming Gods Way came on board at Joy, Zolani soon learned how to farm God's Way and helped provide fresh produce from the Joy Garden on the church's property. Zolani is now a facilitator for Jesu Gardens. The Joy Garden he manages is a 30m X 7m patch, which, at any given time, has three different vegetables available to harvest. These three contain a root vegetable (e.g. carrots, spring onions, beetroot), a leafy green vegetable (e.g. spinach, kale, cabbage) and a 'fruit' vegetable (e.g. sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes). The Joy Garden benefits the underprivileged community in and around the Walmer area. Zolani is responsible for periodic training in Farming God's Way, enabling people to provide for themselves through home-based Gardens of Faithfulness. These can be as small as 1m X 2m gardens.

The Garden cared for by Zolani at Joy to the Nations Church in Walmer.

Zolani is an active community member; sometimes, Farming God's Way sees him taking on broader challenges. He assisted the Peddie Chief in forming the Dabi Community Foundation (DCF) in Peddie, for which he is the director. This involved securing a 30-year land rights agreement for the use of the land and acquiring local funding for a borehole and fencing for the land. Progress has been slow, but since some Belgian funding was recently acquired, progress will soon be back on track.

Zolani has made two trips to Esigcaweni location in Gilgal, eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland) to assist American Missionaries. Here, he trained some of the locals in Farming God's Way and set up a community garden at the church. On the 9th of May 2024, Zolani will be training the community at Bayland (near Perseverance on the Uitenhage Road) to grow their own food. This particular initiative is under the 'Africa for Christ' banner seeds. The course costs R20, and participants will receive a small quantity of spinach seeds, beetroot seeds, spring onion seeds, pea seedlings and a brochure explaining how the Garden of Faithfulness works. Zolani will also establish a Garden for the Bayland Church, which will be 10m X 10m.

Zolani in action in eSwatini.

Zolani also dreams that sometime in the future, he will be able to start a large skill centre to train and prepare unemployed job seekers for the job market. He already has his eye on a piece of real estate in Walmer to make this dream a reality.

Farming God's Way

With agriculture largely failing in Africa due to increasing soil erosion, failing crop yields and inconsistent rainfall due to climate change, farmers are battling to meet the needs of consumers. Farming God’s Way is a Biblically-based approach to conservation farming, promoted in Africa as a form of climate-smart agriculture that restores degraded land and increases crop yields. It reduces drudgery and labour for small-scale farmers by up to 50%. This farming method nourishes the soil and enables it to retain water much better, which is particularly useful in dry areas. Farming God’s Way is a proven program developed to allow African communities and individuals to break the yoke of poverty through successful agriculture.

What makes farming God's Way unique?

Farming God's Way practices simply involve trying to follow as closely as possible what we saw the Creator do in a manageable agricultural way. The seven technology keys of Farming God's Way are:

1. No ploughing—The earliest mention of ploughing in the Bible was with very light spear-tip lines, which did not invert the soil. The spear was used to loosen the soil to a very shallow depth for planting. Nowadays, a hoe is the tool of choice.

2. 100% cover with God's Blanket 2.5cm thick—This creates the ideal environment for soil enrichment. Grass cuttings, leaves, or hay are used.

3. Practising biodiversity through rotations and cover cropping—These methods are crucial in maintaining healthy soil and crops.

4. Feeding plants from the top—allows the blanket to gradually decompose on the soil surface, placing nutrients near the plant's roots without disturbing the soil.

5. Ensuring canopy cover— God designed plants to have a dense canopy of leaves and branches formed by plants in close proximity to each other. The canopy shades out weeds and creates an optimal inter-canopy climate for crop growth.

6. Permanence—This brings order into the fields and ensures that planting is done accurately on the same planting line every season. Measuring ropes and permanent pegs are used to mark off planting areas, which leads to improved crops and profitability.

7. Incorporating trees into your farming system—Agroforestry is something God demonstrated in the very first garden. It combines agriculture, forestry, and conservation practices for long-term sustainability.

Zolani in action

The economic benefits of Farming God's Way:

1. It allows for healthy plants without stress and a healthy, balanced soil ecosystem that maintains a pest- and disease-free environment.

2. Farming God's Way reduces field preparation costs and saves time.

3. Farming God's Way minimises fertiliser loss and ensures that it is placed accurately in the root zone.

4.  It can improve crop's drought tolerance by conserving moisture due to the blanket cover. Crop rotation can also help spread the risk of crop failure.

5. Due to the moisture conservation created by the blanket cover, irrigation costs will be reduced.

6. Because the roots grow directly under the blanket, accessing the high fertility of the decomposing blanket and enjoying the readily available moisture results in improved crop efficiency.

7. Annual yield improvements.

Video provided by Zolani Booi

If you are interested in supporting Zolani's wonderful work and you can help him and Joy of the Nations in any way, please get in touch with him at zolani.booi11@gmail.com or on his cellphone/WhatsApp at 078 303 6304.

Sources:

1. The interview with Mr Zolani Booi occurred on Thursday, the 25th of April, 2024, at Joy to the Nations Church, Walmer, Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

2. Farming God's Way: a Biblical Approach to Agriculture (faithplans.org)

3. FGW_Field_Guide.pdf (farming-gods-way.org)

4. Farming God's Way | Agrihope

5.  www.joytothenations.co.za.