Leribe District lies on the high plains of north-western Lesotho, in the shadow of the Maluti Mountains. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, the Mountain Kingdom is one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, with very few local employment opportunities available to its citizens.

This District in Lesotho is one of the worst affected by drought, poverty and HIV. Many families here rely on salaries earned by male migrant labourers in the South African mines to supplement the living they make from subsistence agriculture. The effects of climate change have become more pronounced, making subsistence farming unreliable and greatly reducing the staple maize crop.   

With temperatures ranging from intense heat to extreme cold, Leribe experiences some of the worst hailstorms, snows and drought. As a result, soil erosion is a big problem.  This makes life very difficult for the majority of the population who rely on subsistence farming for survival.

Lesotho has the third highest HIV prevalence in the world, with nearly a quarter of the population living with HIV. The prevalence is even higher in districts with border towns such as Leribe and Maseru.

To reduce the HIV vulnerability and the effects of climate change of this migration affected community IOM with partner Teba development, is implementing a keyhole garden initiative for food security and livelihood. Keyhole gardens are round vegetable gardens of about two metres in diameter which are waist-high. This makes them easy to maintain, especially for the sick and elderly people who are unable to bend down to a conventional garden plot. Keyhole gardens are so called because, from the top, each one looks like a keyhole.

These gardens are built with readily available and recycled materials such as leaves, manure, ash, grass and stones. Inside, the garden-beds are layered with tin cans, straw and ash which together provide the nutrients to make the gardens extremely productive. These gardens are resistant to cold and dry weather and provide fresh vegetables all year round. They can be watered using waste water (such as dishwater), which helps households conserve their limited water supplies.

Although the gardens are quite small, they are highly productive and can yield substantial amounts of nutritious vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, onions, carrots, beetroot, radish, turnips and garlic. With their ease-of-use and nutritional value keyhole gardens are an excellent solution for poverty and are particularly useful to households that have been weakened by HIV and AIDS.

Since the inception of the IOM project in 2008, 700 gardens have been built in Leribe district, each feeding an average family of five to eight people.  Some households have even clubbed together to sell some of their surplus vegetables. One school in the district has built several keyhole gardens in the school yard to raise funds for orphaned and vulnerable children. This exercise not only encourages good nutrition but also imparts agricultural skills, entrepreneurship and a sense of unity within the community.

This project is implemented by IOM’s regional health team in Pretoria, under the Partnership on Health and Mobility in East and Southern Africa (PHAMESA) through funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).   

TEBA Development is the development arm of TEBA Ltd. Its purpose is to play a leading role in improving the living conditions and livelihoods of communities that have provided labour to the mining industry.