Josephina Mwashindange
OMUTSEGWONDJAMBA – King of the Ondonga Traditional Authority Fillemon Shuumbwa Nangolo has initiated and made land available for cultivation, measuring approximately 30 hectares.
The land is located in the Uukwanambwa district of the Oshikoto region, some 10 kilometres north of Omuthiya at Omutsegwondjamba.
According to the junior councillor of the Uukwanambwa district and headman of Uudhiya village, who is also the manager of the project, Fillemon Nambili, the field is no stranger to the communities living within the boundaries, and it was established in order to sustain communities that might find themselves not making ends meet.
The land is meant for the production of food crops, mainly maize, for human consumption and income-generation for the OTA.
“In the past, people from different clusters used to go to the king’s palace, where they camped for a few days and assisted with the mahangu fieldwork before they returned to their homesteads.
The produce from the palace’s field was not necessarily meant for the king but for his communities, so it is exactly the same purpose.
With this field we have here at the Omutsegwondjamba village, instead of us now going to the palace, we have land here where we cultivate,” explained Nambili.
Local farmer Gerhard Kambonde assisted the OTA with a tractor that cleared land by debushing, while the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry availed tractors to help with the ploughing and sowing.
Although some community members from surrounding villages also showed up to assist with the weeding, Nambili urged the rest of the community to come in big numbers and assist with the weeding process.
“As you can see, almost every seed sown has germinated.
We will now need more people to come and assist with weeding, and this can only be done if we all understand that this field belongs to us, and nobody else will come and work here if not ourselves, for our own benefit.
I am calling upon all residents to please spare some time for this field so that we can eliminate hunger and poverty”, he appealed.
According to Nambili, the seeds were imported from Zambia, and are seasonal.
Meanwhile, the former chief regional officer for the Oshana Regional Council, Martin Elago, who is the village headman, called on the youth to always partake and avail themselves for projects such as this, adding that this is also a form of employment.
In the same vein, Frans Shidhudhu, chairperson of 20 villages in the district, said they were motivated and encouraged by the king of Ondonga to work hard.
Nambili further called upon all the clusters within the OTA as well as other Namibian citizens who would like to assist the project in any way to come forth, adding that any form of help will make a difference.