South Africa

The pictures show some of the steps in the production process:
Trainees receive hands-on instruction in the selection and proper sorting of harvested mugwort.
Afterwards, the mugwort is gently dried slowly at below 40 degrees in special drying houses powered by solar energy. Slow drying is crucial for the active ingredient content.
After drying, the mugwort is sorted again and then ground into a fine powder.
The finished powder is filled into bags or buckets and delivered to a food factory for further processing.

In 2020 SUNfarming successfully carried out the DeveloPPP project "Vitality Porridge" to combat the consequences of Covid-19 with the help of DEG in South Africa. Over 10,000 school children and their families were directly supplied with high-energy, healthy food (SF Vitality Porridge). In certified training courses, teachers and unemployed relatives of school children were taught theoretical and practical knowledge about ecological, water-saving vegetable growing and healthy eating. As a result, numerous vegetable gardens for self-sufficiency were created in the townships.

Despite the success of the Vitality Porridge Project, there are still major problems providing school meals for the children from families in need. We are therefore pleased to now work with DEG on a significantly larger training and supply project in South Africa with a total volume of almost 10 million euros.

The SUNfarming DeveloPPP project is supported by the June & Andrew Mlangeni Foundation, the non-profit association Food Education Energy and Development e.V. (FEED) of Hamburg, and the F.E.E.D. NGO of South Africa. The non-profit association FEED of Germany and its sister organization in South Africa collect donations from international donors, companies, and foundations to further expand the urgently needed and sustainable development aid in South Africa and that is in addition to the projects through DEG.

The SUNfarming COViD-19 Response Program, which is geared towards sustainability and helping people to help themselves, is divided into three program parts:

SF Vitality Porridge Food Aid Program:
More than 40 schools, 10,000 children and 50,000 of their family members will take part in this sustainable project aimed at helping people to help themselves. Also, 28.8 million packs of high-quality & healthy Vitality Porridge produced by SUNfarming will be delivered and distributed over a period of 18 months.

Vitality Porridge contains not only multiple vitamins and nutrients but also medicinal herbs such as artemisia (African mugwort), turmeric, and ginger to enhance the immunity of the human body.
Training courses on all aspects of organic vegetable growing and healthy eating will again be part of the program.

“The medicinal herbs for the Vitality Porridge are already being grown, dried, processed and bottled by trainees as multiple cultures (intercropping), together with various types of vegetables, in our Food & Energy Training Centers. The extruders provided on the Food & Energy plants for the production of Vitality Porridge have been technically enlarged so that they can produce up to 200,000 food portions per day, ”explainsPeter Schrum, SUNfarming founder and main shareholder.
"We would like to extend our sincere thanks to DEG for the renewed support without which we would not be able to implement this Covid-19 Response Program," continues Peter Schrum.

“We are very pleased to have a reliable partner at our side in Sunfarming, who has been assuring its corporate responsibility in a number of countries for many years. This is anything but a matter of course, we very much appreciate the constant, reliable commitment of Sunfarming to the implementation of the project, ”says Manuela Marques, Head of Customer Solutions at DEG.

The courses offered are monitored by the South African authority SAQA (South African Qualification Authority). The successful candidates are awarded certificates at the end of the program in a small ceremony to symbolize its national recognition of the qualification that facilitates them to enter into the skilled labor market.

Rural parishes support the project comprehensively by encouraging the participation of communities and also by providing their plots of lands for the practical training courses. As a result, such lands owned by churches should continue to be cultivated by parishioners and serve as a source of food for the needy in those communities.

The Covid-19 Response Program offers immediate aid against hunger and, at the same time, sustainable help for self-help through certified training courses in vegetable growing and healthy eating for the local population. Labor is required for production in the Food & Energy centers. Accredited Agri-SETA trainers in organic vegetable cultivation trained by SUNfarming South Africa take on the training of these workers. In this way, new jobs are also created on site.

The theoretical and practical training includes everything necessary for a successful harvest, from soil preparation to sowing, irrigation and pest control. Those plots laid out by the first group are expanded and maintained by subsequent groups. In the course of the growing season, the following groups can learn practically how to control pests and how to prune. Intercropping with medicinal herbs, the use of organic fertilizers, and the efficient use of water resources are covered during the training courses.
The produces, mainly vegetables are sold to the school on favorable terms for the consumption of students & staff. As such, this program has been successful in ensuring multiple benefits such as healthy food, skills development on organic farming, and also it creates enthusiasm and passion for farming. All these benefits are to ensure much sustainable culture towards the well-being of the next generation in the country.

“With the COVID-19 response program for South Africa, which is co-financed by DEG, we are in a position to bring our valuable and long-term experience with food & energy technologies, especially for school children, and approx. 60,000 people daily for 18 months with SF Vitality Supply porridge. We give people a new perspective for life, ”explains David Morr, Project Manager International of the SUNfarming Group.

Daniel Alex, DEG project manager, explains: “This project is very unusual in terms of its size and the effect it will achieve. We rarely reach so many people on different levels - this is made possible by the enormous range of activities. Thanks to the two-pronged approach, we are able to combine short-term food support with the development of sustainable structures for the permanent improvement of living conditions in the areas in South Africa severely affected by Covid-19."

-I had a wonderful lifetime experience , as a not so technically person I truly have to say @Faure van Schalkwyk you are a super teacher / facilitator...@Anelda you are fantastic administrator. Thank you guys for a super experience and everyone whom I met , never was made to feel like I was less qualified thank you guys . I pray we all succeed in our future endeavors and may our paths meet again as we grow in the industry.. God bless you all Gentleman. Even me as a technical person really learned a lot.
-Thank you to all and for everything Faure and Anelda. You are legends.
-Yes. Thank you all. Learned an awful lot. Laughed and worried. You are very wise men with many years of knowledge and experience. Thank you Anelda for all your hard work and Faure. I will come and do it with you again anytime. It was awfully nice
-Best online Presenters i have experience - kept once attention at all times
-They have given us a good content and very easy to grasp. They interacted with everyone well
-They are all prepared and professional
-Very impressed with the presenters' ability to stimulate participation. Kudos to the team for the video training setup which I think is quite effective.
- ...it is always a pleasure to attend SSEG courses. Faure, Dr Botha and Josh are fantastic and is professional

You can find out more about the Solar Training Center here

In the video you can see what we have achieved so far

"None of us can do that much
like we all can do together ".
With this in mind, we wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a hopeful start to the new year. Health, happiness and good luck - combined with our sincere thanks for your trust!

With festive greetings
Your SUNfarming team

The SUNfarming/Alensys Solar Training Center South Africa is now in operation since more than 5 years and was realised within a PPP Public Private Partnership program supported by the German DEG/KfW. The most important partner is the North-West University in Potchefstroom.

The SUNfarming Solar Food & Energy Training Centre, already in the 3rd year of operation after completion of the Public Private Partnership, offers training opportunities for students, electricians, teachers from high schools as well as start-up companies and municipal representatives from different regions and departments in South Africa. The training centre, continuously in further expansion for more training opportunities, is in full time operation and delivers fresh vegetables to the North West University Campus, a food store in Potchefstroom (Pick&Pay) as well as several catering service companies.
All SF bio food products with grade A quality are supplied to the prime quality customer Pick&Pay, all secondary quality products are directly marketed by the local SUNfarming trainees and employees in the township locations of Potchefstroom. With this, the employees earn some extra money and thus become small entrepreneurs, partially with own employers already.

The training facility was transferred to our expert skills transfer company SUNCybernetics PTY LTD (SUNCy), under the lead of North West University doctoral student Faure van Schalkwyk. This training company is exclusively used for know-how and skills transfer in the fields of solar technology and food production, operating on a cost covering, non-profit base to ensure constant high quality trainings.
After 6 years of experience, we can confirm the effectiveness of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) with its cooperative structures like DEG/KfW, and German Medium Size Companies, like SUNfarming and Alensys, for a continuous education and training program, as long as the PPP investment is kept in the hand of the German Medium Size Company.

More than 1,000 training sessions have been held so far at the SF Solar Training Center and SF Food & Energy Training Center for participants from across Africa.

Please see our first Solar Training Center marketing video and what participants say:
Newest marketing video Solar Training Center South Africa

Technical and agriculture teaching staff of the correctional services from all over South Africa attended the course.
„The participants were very satisfied with the course and some even stated that it was one of the best courses they attended and the wish there was more of these types of training. They feel now they will be able to make a big difference when going back to home/work,“ says Faure van Schalkwyk, Energy Research Engineer & Trainer.

Xoli Phillips recommends SUNfarming Food & Energy:

"Food & Energy is an excellent opportunity our youth must grap with both hands. It is the best training I have ever attended. Training was so exciting and prepared us for the future. Thanks to all the facilitators who made the training so easy to understand. So professional and well versed with the course. It is much appreciated…keep up the excellent work."

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