According to Barker, the local people had failed to use their land efficiently owing to problems with drainage – a problem she believed could be overcome with input from the Nutritional Development Unit. The planned stream-bed gardens or 'madimbas' as they were referred to, were developed with what were hoped to be effective drainage channels, overseen by a local 'capitao'.

The project started with 10 villages in the scheme. Provided the irrigation systems had 'no deleterious effect' on water supplies the plan was to roll the gardens out across the country