Windhoek
A small group of farmers at Orondjize village in the Omusati region has set a prime example of how to plan grazing and combine the herding of livestock as a tool to heal the land and minimise livestock losses in their area.
Orondjize village is about two kilometres on the western side of the Etosha National Park and 18 kilometres north of the Kamanjab/Ruacana tar road. The farmers negotiated the drilling of a borehole in a virgin land and established a cattle post they call Ondundombapa, meaning ‘White Mountain.” They did this shortly after Community Based Rangeland and Livestock Management(CBRLM) programme was introduced by the government in cooperation with Millennium Challenge Account-Namibia (MCA-N).They established a grazing area committee with the primary responsibilities of supervising herders, financial management and herd structure management.
In 2013, the women of Ondundombapa initiated a devil’s claw business as a source of income while the men received a special predator proof kraal from Afri-Cat, a non-governmental organisation(NGO) that spearheads the conservation of lions, leopards and cheetah. This resulted in a dramatic drop in livestock losses due to combined herding and overnight kraaling. The women were selected as beneficiaries of a small stock pass-on scheme offered by CBRLM. One of the conditions of this scheme was that the goats should be combined in one herd and herded according to a grazing plan. Each received six female goats and the numbers have been growing steadily since then. Three women have since been employed as professional cattle herders and their contribution to decision making for grazing and livestock management is now valued even more because it is informed by practical day to day involvement.
Due to the low rainfall in 2013/14, many farmers from Ondundombapa moved their cattle elsewhere but they also sold many of their cattle. Instead of abandoning the planned grazing and combined herding, they brought goats and started herding them to a grazing pan. Their pioneering example inspired other communities in the Kunene region as an alternative sustainable rangeland management in drought affected areas. Ondundombapa also acquired four bulls with the help of CBRLM to improve calving rate. Unfortunately, due to the drought of 2013 and this year’s dry spell, the calving rate is still low.