Windhoek
Lemphy Katuuo from the Okankolo constituency in the Oshikoto Region’s phenomenal progress as a Conservation Agriculture (CA) farmer with 17 hectares under rip furrowing, was showcased last week as outstanding example of what can be achieved with CA.
Katuuo related to the National CA Stakeholders’ Workshop in Windhoek how she became a dedicated Namibian Conservation Agricultural Project 2 lead farmer, training more than 50 neighbours and mobilising farmers in her area for rip furrow land preparation services.
She started humbly in 2006 after CA was officially launched in Namibia in 2005.
Ten years later, she has stuck to an animal drawn rip furrower, which she uses to complement land preparation done by tractors.
She produces dry-land crops for her household and for the market.
Katuuo is also a livestock farmer and is producing supplement fodder on her land. She has visited all of the crop regions in the north to share her knowledge and experiences and sums up her success story saying she and many others have progressed through CA from just being smallholder crop farmers to fully-fledged business people providing an important service to their communities.
“I joined the Namibia Conservation Agriculture Project in 2012, and never looked back. CA methods have made it possible for me to become a lead farmer, showing others how to apply the simple techniques that guarantee improved crops, even in drought years like 2013 and this year. Neighbours still flock to my plot to stand amazed at my results.”
By means of a slide show, she demonstrated the vast difference between rip furrowing as done with CA, and disc harrowing, the method responsible for the degradation of soil in all crop planting regions.
“By planting in furrows, we maintain moisture and the plants do much better, even in times of drought.
Crop rotation is the other very important part of proper CA farming as it gives varieties the chance to recover while the soil is still producing food. All CA farmers, even in drought-devastated Kunene Region, have produced above-average crops this year, securing household food and a bit of an income.
Some of the non-CA farmers are devastated as their fields did not produce any mahangu or maize this year,” she notes. She concludes that her ten years as CA farmer have taught her valuable lessons and encourages all crop farmers in the communal areas to adopt CA immediately. “CA has turned us into successful farmers and business people. It is the only way forward.”