Namibia develops conservation agriculture framework
Namibia is set to develop a new conservation agriculture strategic framework to inspire local farmers to adopt sustainable agriculture practices that ensure resilience, food security and nutrition as well as environmental protection, an official said on Monday.
Speaking at a workshop to develop the Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture Programme, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) assistant representative Ferdinard Mwapopi said the framework is to help farmers increase production and productivity, thus reducing risks and building resilience to climate change.
“Despite agricultural productivity increasing in some countries in the SADC [Southern African Development Community] region, others like Namibia remain net importers of food items, and are thus highly exposedtoenvironmentaland economic factors prevailing in food-exporting countries, making them vulnerable to shocks,” he stated, adding that the situation is further exacerbated by poor farming methods, high levels of soil degradation and desertification, resulting in low agricultural productivity.
Droughts and prolonged dry spells also worsen the situation as they result in severe crop damage or complete crop failures, placing many people at the risk of hunger.
Conservation agriculture principles, which include minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation, are universally applicable in all agricultural landscapes and cropping systems, Mwapopi noted.
He said this intervention is especially important for smallholder farmers, who despite managing over 80% of the world’s estimated 500 million small farms and providing over 80% of the food consumed in a large part of the developing world, are still largely overlooked and left to face challenges such as access to production inputs associated with high prices and lack of access to credit.
“To effectively motivate these food heroes to adopt conservation agriculture and associated climate-smart practices, it is imperative to further improve information dissemination and awarenesscreation as well as support to demonstrate conservation agriculture practices and sharing of experiences among farmers and policymakers,” he continued.
Stakeholders are meeting from 14 to 18 November to reflect on lessons learned as well as to craft a new framework to pave a new pathway for conservation agriculture adoption in Namibia, and transition from traditional farming methods toward climatesmart agriculture practices.
Conservation agriculture is highlighted in Namibia’s fifth National Development Plan for 2017-2022, in which 13,000 farmers were targeted to adopt at least one of the practices, such as minimum tillage, crop rotation and organic soil cover.