Katarina Uupindi
A supervisor at the Olof Palme community garden at Goreangab, Nestor Kalola, has called on the City of Windhoek to avail more land to the residents, saying it will help improve the living standard of inhabitants in the informal settlements.
The residents received a piece of land from the city in 2016 to set up a community garden behind Olof Palme Primary School. The garden produces carrots, cabbages, spinach, cauliflower, tomatoes, onions, garlic and beetroots among others and are sold from as little as N$10 at a nearby supermarket.
Kalola said the idea came to light after they pleaded with city officials to consider providing land to the community, because as a leader, he could not turn a blind eye to people living in poverty.
He stated, despite availing land, the city also provided seeds, equipment, security services, water and electricity.
In addition, the supervisor said five community members are permanent workers and are trained in crop production. The project beneficiaries are community members from the surrounding area.
The income generated is used to buy seeds when necessary and the rest is deposited in the garden’s account for future use. He pointed out the development has been a great assistance to the community as it also help unwell people normally referred to by the social workers from the community development department.
“Although progress has been made thus far, a lot has to be done to address a number of challenges that hamper the project operations like shortage of water supply, burglaries and insects attack on the plants,” Kalola stated.
Ultimately Kalola indicated future plans of setting up a poultry farm to get manure as it is good for crop production, hence he call for stakeholders to assist on safeguarding the premises with either precast or electrical fence to discourage criminals.