Windhoek
“Kongalend Financial Services remains committed to support farmers in their efforts to achieve food security and generate surplus for income generation through use of conservation agriculture methods. Our Lima Power loan has been designed to support the entire process: from ripping to reaping,” says Tshoombe Ndadi, Kongalend’s Chairperson.
All-in-all, 150 tractor drivers were trained by the National Cooperative Business Association/Cooperative League of the United States of America (NCBA/CLUSA) International in tractor maintenance and correct rip furrowing. Hoffman’s Farm Implements trained all the Kongalend clients on the correct use of the John Deere 5503 medium-sized tractors.
“These tractors are perfect and suit the purpose. It is essential not to use unnecessarily large and heavy tractors when rip furrowing as you must avoid soil compaction. We already have huge problems with compaction pans and do not want to worsen it by using over-sized machinery,” says Andreas Tweendeni, Creative Entrepreneurial Solutions Namibia Conservation Agricultural Programme Oshikoto Regional Co-ordinator.
NCBA CLUSA International also trained 150 draught power animal owners in Conservation Agriculture (CA) theory, animal health and rip furrowing.
“Farmers in isolated areas might not have access to service providers using tractors, and many areas in the Zambezi region, for instance, are not accessible by tractors, thus the importance and need of draught power animal rip furrow service providers,” explains Nyati.
Animal drawn mould board ploughs can easily be converted to rip furrowers by re-fitting the plough frame with a ripper tine and the wings necessary to create in-field water harvesting ridges in the field. A slightly longer yoke and chain are required so that the proper one-metre distance between the furrows is kept. However, many areas suffer from severe soil compaction, so much that tractors are needed to crack the hard plough pan open. Years of conventional ploughing and disc harrowing, in combination with zero soil cover, has created soil compaction and also left topsoil vulnerable to flood and wind erosion.