WINDHOEK – Oshana Governor, Clemens Kashuupulwa, is stressing the importance of conservation agriculture practices for food security in the face of climate change.
Kashuupulwa presided at the hand-over of fourteen tractors and rippers last week in Ondangwa. “We are experiencing a shortage of food production in the regions. Government and stakeholders are working very hard to support farmers to increase food security. The tractors and rippers provided through the Kongalend loan packages will indeed assist farmers in increasing yields from their fields in the interest of food security.”
“Today’s hand-over of tractors and rippers, acquired at a cost of N$5.5 million, marks an important step in Kongalend’s long-term commitment to provide tailor-made financial products to support the growth of agri-business, targeting the entire agricultural value chain, from land preparation to harvest and product processing and distribution,” noted Tshoombe Ndadi, Chairman of Kongalend Financial Services.” As all are links in the chain, Ndadi said by pooling resources, sharing expertise and working together, they can achieve measureable and impactful progress. At its launch in July 2010, Kongalend declared its commitment to the formation of practical and functional partnerships, not to pay lip service to a noble ideal but to stress that development is a serious business, and a collective responsibility.
“Practical private pubic partnerships have thus been – and remain – the key ingredient in everything we do because it is the recipe for success. Today, we celebrate what working together, in unity of purpose, can deliver to progress the development agenda in the agricultural sector, which is a key pillar of our economy,” he observed adding that rip furrowing is the way to go because experience has shown that the yields per hectare have improved tremendously. The challenge has been the lack of tractors and rippers. In Engela Constituency alone, there are 12 NCAP Lead Farmers and around 300 other farmers who want to have their fields ripped this year.
“I commend Kongalend for having taken this bold decision to create the loan package. At the same time, I urge the tractor owners not to default on their repayments,” says Jason Ndakunda, Engela Constituency Councillor. The Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU), too, expressed its sincere thanks to Kongalend on behalf of its members. “This loan opportunity means that our crop producing farmer members will now get access to ripping furrowing land preparation services on a large scale. This is indeed great news.” says Robert Tobias, Programme Co-ordinator at the NNFU’s Oshakati branch.
Creative Entrepreneurial Solutions (CES), in its address delivered by NCAP Field Co-ordinator Anna-Tukwafa Shonghela, emphasised Family Farming saying that “2014 is the United Nations’ International Year of Family Farming. The United Nations has recognised that in order to eradicate hunger, it is vital that smallholder famers are empowered with knowledge and provided access to services and inputs, such as finance, land preparation, seed and fertilisers. To switch to climate-smart crop farming methods is vital in today’s world where food production is negatively affected by climate change. I can confidently say that those gathered here today for the handover of tractors and rippers are answering the United Nations’ call to promote Family Farming.”
CES also noted that 35% of the successful Kongalend loan applicants for tractors and rippers are women. Shonghela, on behalf of the entire CES organisation, extended a special vote of thanks to USAID and NCBA CLUSA for the NCAP project and to Kongalend for going out of its way to create an agri-bsuiness loan package specifically tailor-made for conservation tillage service providers.
The NCBA CLUSA Country Representative, Inomusa Nyati, says he is very happy that with a large number of ripping furrowing service providers, NCBA CLUSA and its implementing partners NNFU and CES together with the 10,800 farmers participating in the NCAP project, will be successful in establishing conservation agriculture demonstration plots in seven of the northern Namibian crop farming regions. “I am urging the NCAP Lead Farmers’ neighbours, who are being trained by the Lead Farmers in a Farmer Field School setting, to register your interest for having your land rip furrowed. For a long time, farmers have asked for tractors and rippers, and today is a turning point as farmers will now have access to conservation tillage land preparation services. This is a result of forming partnerships. Together, we can make much needed sustainable contributions to food security and soil conservation,” says Nyati.
By Deon Schlechter