Traditional root vegetable helps villagers prosper

A traditional African root vegetable, amadumbe, has brought economic uplifment to the rural Umbumbulu district on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. Some of the village farmers now supply the traditional root vegetable to leading retailers like Woolworths. The farmers are members of the Ezemvelo Farmers Organisation, which was started in 1999 by Dr. Thembinkosi Modi of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s school of Agricultural Science. He taught the villagers new methods of growing the crops organically and now they also supply shops with up to 5 tons of sweet potatoes, baby potatoes and amadumbe. The farmers started off by selling their products to Pick ’n Pay before getting a deal with Woolworths in 2003.