…credits new farming methods
OHAZIWA VILLAGE – In the first week of December the mahangu crop in 73-year-old Maria Stefanus’ ripped and furrowed field in Ohaziwa village in the Oshana Region is already 25 cm tall and growing fast following the recent good rains.
The success story of Maria Stefanus unfolded after she decided it was time to improve her crop yield. “My councillor, Andreas Mundjindi, announced a Conservation Agriculture (CA) meeting on the NBC radio some months back, and I decided to attend as I am in dire need to improve my crop yield,” she recalls. “In the meeting Tuyakula Nantinda from the Namibia Conservation Agriculture Project (NCAP) informed me about the project and the CA methods – the ripper furrowing and hand-hoe basin – they promote and assist farmers with. He also explained about soil degradation, outdated farming methods, climate change impacts, and why our yields are declining because of all these factors,” she further said. She became interested and approached NCAP to register as a lead farmer. Since then she has attended an NCAP course on conservation agriculture where she learned about basic crop and soil science, and the vital pillars of conservation agriculture which are minimum soil disturbance, maximum soil cover and crop rotation that reverses soil degradation, increases soil fertility and soil water holding capacity. She met with farmers who have practiced conservation agriculture for a number of years. Back home from the training she started holding meetings with interested neighbours, out of whom twenty registered for conservation agriculture training at Maria’s conservation agriculture demo plot. Stefanus will conduct four on-farm training sessions per year on conservation agriculture theory and practice, including correct planting, manure and fertilizer application, and also post-harvest activities such as crop residue retention for soil cover, storage of grain, treatment of seed and marketing. She receives support from the NCAP field trainers.
“From the training and by meeting seasoned conservation agriculture farmers I realised we are practicing outdated farming methods. As a lead farmer NCAP covers the costs for my 1 hectare demo plot, but I decided immediately to pay out of my own pocket for another 3 hectares for ripped furrowing instead of disc harrowed by a local tractor,” she said. The ripper-furrower method is a conservation tillage technique within the wider scope of conservation agriculture.
A ripper tine cracks open the compacted plough pan, allowing for deep root penetration, while wings fitted on the tines create furrows that guide rain water to the planting lines, thus creating in-field rain water harvesting. The method is suitable in drought, as well as flood conditions since with the plough pan broken, the water now can seep into the soil like a sponge. “I also prepared hand-hoe basins in sections of my field, where groundnuts have already germinated,” she says. Ripper furrowing as well as the hand-hoe basin method of land preparation should ideally be carried out during the dry season, from straight on after harvest till the onset of rain, thus giving farmers ultimate planting opportunities early on in the rainy season. “The NCAP field coordinator arranged for a private service provider to rip furrow my land at the end of October. I planted immediately from my own mahangu seed storage and a few days later I received a shower,” she said.
By the beginning of November her mahangu crop had already germinated. “Early land preparation and planting is vital, especially with the unreliable rains and recurring floods we encounter nowadays. It is important that your plants are tall and healthy as early as possible in order to withstand possible drought or flooding,” she said. The NCAP is a three-year conservation agriculture project implemented by CLUSA International in seven northern regions of Namibia. It is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “The interest from farmers to join the project is overwhelming. We are already collaborating with 330 lead farmers who in their turn have registered close to 7 000 of their neighbours for on-farm conservation agriculture training. “The NCAP is virtually a training project where lead farmers are capacitated to make an impact in their communities in the interest of national food security and in reversing soil degradation,” said Richard Shikongo, NCAP Coordinator for the Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA). “Judging by the interest from the farmers there is a huge opportunity for the private sector to offer ripper furrowing land preparation services in the communal land farming areas by tractor, as well as draught animals. Seed and fertilizer outlets that are accessible for smallholder farmers as well as post-harvest mechanized threshing services are also very much needed,” he said. Shikongo firmly believes that subsistence farming can develop into sustainable semi-commercial enterprises if environmentally friendly conservation agriculture methods are applied and Maria Stefanus is testimony to that. “This is the best my crops have ever looked this time of the year and I am optimistic that this could be my best crops ever. I am looking forward to harvesting time and how my farm improves under these new conservation agriculture techniques,” Stefanus says proudly.
By Staff Reporter