Despite its obvious benefits, the noble initiative of subsistence crop farming, which enables a family to feed right off their own fields, has not been successfully replicated across the country. 

Many of us still rely on getting supplies from the shops for our daily needs ranging from maize meal to even a bulb of onion. This begs the question; what needs to be done to make such form of farming popular?

Granted, this practise does come with its own challenges; it requires a constant supply of water, good soil and constant weeding to make sure the produce is of good quality and contains the right nutrients. This should, however, not be a source of discouragement as there are challenges in every form of farming from horticulture, animal husbandry and to a large scale, agriculture.

Over the years, a large rural population abandoned their homes in the remote areas and found their way into the bustling and hustling urban areas. By doing so, they left behind a life many of them had grown to know as the only form of existence for years. They left behind their land to the worms to feed on. If only a few of them knew how to turn this land into profitable agribusinesses, that would sustain them, they would not see the need to migrate to towns.

Lets face it; life in the big urban centres is anything but rosy. When people meet the bright lights of the cities and are forced to commute to their would-be homes, they are stuck with the first reality of life in the cities; paying your way to get around. But the prospects, or rather hope of finding a job and having a future in the city is all too beckoning. So they stay on.

Days pass by, and so do years but they still remain jobless. By now, reality has hit; life is no bed of roses in the big cities. So, akin to a person lost in the jungle who arrogantly elects to go deeper into the forest for a chance of a hunt as opposed to turning back, they stay on. Here, they live in abject poverty that makes it even difficult for them to return home to their villages, even if they chose to.
The inverse of this, however, is that if young and gifted individuals stay on in the rural areas and work their land, they would face a better future than on the narrow corridor-like streets of Havana, Tulinawa, DRC, or Kanaan. Making optimum use of the land for agriculture production would not only put food on their tables, but could also earn them some income for them.

Whether its a small vegetable garden, chicken farming or even a goat rearing enterprise, business is business. Just get started. Water is cheaper in the rural areas, there is a bit more land to experiment with and the cost of living is way below that found in the cities.  The tides have turned; working an 8 to 5 no longer guarantees success; you have to give more than that to even just get by.

If you are the type that buys onions everyday like we all do, why not prepare a small bed in your backyard where you plant these? If such setup ends up giving you even just that one onion you need per day, then you would be saving some much needed dollars. Needless to say, you can also sell any excess produce.

If this works to your satisfaction, you can then slowly branch out to other forms of crops that would complement your family’s nutritional requirements. 

As it stands, only 2% of Namibia’s land receives sufficient rainfall to grow crops. All inland rivers are ephemeral,  and irrigation is only possible in the valleys of the border rivers Oranje, Kunene, Okavango and Zambezi.

Africans are renowned for their indigenous knowledge of veld food and how to turn almost anything that grows organically into foodstuff. Sadly, this type of knowledge has diminished over the years as more people appear to prefer more genetically modified foods.

We need to return to such knowledge and strive to grow our own food, in our own little way. We might still have a long way to go in getting all to understand the importance of such mode of farming, but let’s start now. Let’s start today.