By Deon Schlechter
WINDHOEK – Empowering people to put food on their own plates and on the plates of others is the main aim of Dr Hoze Riruako, Managing Director of Management and Leadership Expert cc, who hosted a four-day workshop in Windhoek last week where Namibian farmers equipped themselves to become better producers.
As a former lecturer at the Polytechnic of Namibia (IS IT THE POLY OR UNAM???) , the University of New York and various other tertiary institutions, Dr Riruako says his company’s training is aimed at Namibians who do not have the prerequisite education to further their studies in the field of agriculture. “My philosophy is to give this group of people not just bread but to invite them into the bakery and learn how to bake their own bread. Once they have achieved this, they will be able to feed themselves and with that knowledge and empowerment, they will be able to feed others. Namibians need to learn how to help themselves first in order to help others,” he stresses.
Armed with the knowledge from the ground-braking training of last week’s workshop, Dr Riruako says farmers can become trainers of others in their various regions by sharing the important information they have gathered. “This will arm them with skills designed for their very own environment, and improve on their performance and bring the results they have been wishing for,” he says. He adds that at the heart of all this lies food security – an area where Namibians still have plenty to do to ensure food security at all times. He says many of the most important lessons learned from life start with a simple idea that provides huge benefits to many people. “Our core training is one such an idea, and we maintain it is vitally important to teach Namibians more about things they know best, like farming. We have not tapped into nearly all our resources in the agricultural sector and one way of doing this is to train farmers properly and equip them with the tools to become better producers in the livestock and agronomy sectors. With proper skills and the know-how of how to run a farm as a business, these farmers would be able to employ jobless people and turn their farming into a profitable business,” he believes.
He says the programme will be extended to most regions, stretching from the drought-stricken Kunene region all the way south to Mariental. The training and transport of people to the regions cost money and he is urging local authorities and other role players to join in on the effort that will see farmers being trained until the end of October this year. As part of the first training programme, farmers visited the Hardap region last week Friday to eye witness crop farming on a commercial scale. The trainees will also visit the Omaheke region to learn about crop farming, livestock farming and dairy farming.