Windhoek
Individual producers in communal grazing don’t assume responsibility for the proper utilisation of common resources. Neither traditional authorities nor government has put in place guidelines to ensure judicious utilisation of communal grazing resources. Instead, individual farmers make every effort possible to maximise their individual livestock numbers, especially now in a time of severe drought.
Changing farmers’ traditional perceptions and having them embrace commercial farming is a necessary condition for producers to make progress. From the Meat Board of Namibia’s (MBN) mentorship programme’s experience there is growing interest in commercialising livestock production. The MBN says sustainable systems of grazing management is the key to progress in the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs). Leasehold participants in the MBN Mentorship Programme make efforts to utilise grazing resources on their farms sustainably. With lease-holding farmers, however, a sustainable system of grazing management has been embraced by a growing number of participants. Group-based management systems which were piloted on a selected number of communities by Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) has given some hope of sustainable ways of managing common grazing resources.
Under the current practice, farmers have free access to communal grazing but assume no responsibility for protecting the resources. The urge towards group rights over grazing areas needs to be given serious consideration for progress to be made in the NCAs. According to the Meat Board, participants adopt livestock input with 83.3% of beneficiaries being capable of vaccinating animals against common diseases while 43.5% of farmers could identify and treat common internal and external parasites and treat other ailments without their mentors’ assistance. Some 50,3% of programme participants could brand, de-horn and castrate animals. Further supplemental feeds are inputs that are key to providing essential nutrients that are normally lacking in the natural pastures. Livestock inputs improves the herd’s body conditions and enhances fertility of breeding herds. High performers were Oshana farmers with 61.8 %, followed by Kavango with 55.6 % and Oshikoto with 53.6%. Because of the growing pace of technology adoption during the first three years, the number of input retail entrepreneurs were known to have increased from a single Agra store at Opuwo (Kunene region) to 21 distribution outlets spread across the eight NCAs regions.
Diffusion of Improved Herd Management Practices
The productivity of the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs) cattle herds with an overall offtake level of 12.4 %, stands at half of the off-take level of commercial areas at 25%. Of the indicated off-take figure for NCAs, 10.7% (87%) constitutes cattle consumed locally in connection with social and cultural functions. Less than 2 % of the off-take actually enters the formal meat market.
Out of the country’s total population of some 2.2 million, an estimated 1.2 million people (66.6%) live in these areas and earn their livelihoods from keeping livestock and subsistence cropping. The NCAs’ estimated 200 000 farm households are known to own 1.4 million cattle and 1.3 million small stock. Consequently the sub-sector’s contribution to agricultural GDP continues to remain at 6%, and 10% of the country’s livestock export earnings, says the Meat Board of Namibia.
To enhance increased and improved production of cattle in the NCAs, and narrow the differential benefits between farmers south and north of the Veterinary Cordon Fence (VCF), the Meat Board, jointly with Livestock Producers Forum (LPF), introduced a five-year (2007 to 2012) voluntary levy on exports of livestock from south of the VCF. This enabled MBN to collect a total of N$40 million. This Fund was designated for the formulation and implementation of the LPF’s Farmers Mentorship Programme (FMP) with a principal goal of enhancing commercially oriented cattle farming, which would supply NCAs abattoirs to operate at full capacity. The programme was designed to select 50 farmers per region – (350 in total) to spearhead the immense interest among cattle owners. The actual number of participants increased to 899. The programme’s participants were selected through a competitive process. The mentors, on a monthly basis, travel to 42 constituencies where mentees have their herds for a period of four to five days per month for 12 months a year. Mentors train and mentor the participants – by practically demonstrating good farming practices. Farmers are encouraged to build self-reliance in developing their livelihoods through application of farming knowledge and skills they acquire.
Livestock owners are encouraged to have a plan of their own – a vision of what they aim to achieve as cattle farmers in the short-, medium- and long-term. Farmers need to be inspired and be determined to succeed in their farming operation. Three years after the LPF: Farmers Mentorship Programme was launched in March 2010, and following the boards’ decision, the management of the Meat Board of Namibia initiated an external review of the mentorship programme’s intervention. The review focused on key indicators, namely changes in farmers’ perception towards livestock farming; adoption of livestock technologies and farm related investments; promotion of sustainable systems of grazing management; livestock marketing; and recommended future course of actions.