Embracing climate smart agriculture The ministries of agriculture and environment, together with relevant stakeholders, are working on exploring the concept of smart climate agriculture to tackle the effects of climate change. This was announced by agriculture minister John Mutorwa in Oshakati during the handover ceremony of agricultural equipment and seeds donated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Mutorwa said since the launch of Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture Programme of Namibia (CCAP) in March 2015, the two ministries and various stakeholders are advancing the implementation of conservancy agriculture to ensure that Namibia becomes climate resilient, food secure and capable of alleviating poverty.
“It is well accepted nowadays that the agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa is faced with challenges of climate change and Namibia is no exception. Over the past three years, the country has experienced severe drought and we all observed the reduction in the annual rainfall, the erratic, unevenly distributed rainfall pattern and prolonged dry spells as a result of climate change, poor soils, inadequate human and capital resources,” Mutorwa said.
He further said in order to improve agricultural output, his ministry apart from the CCAP, has introduced interventions through agronomic programmes such as the green scheme programme, national fresh produce business hubs, agricultural technology centres and dry-land crop production around the country.
“These programmes are responsive to the country’s national development plans, my ministry’s strategic plans and the Harambee Prosperity Plan through their impacts in improving the agricultural output in communal areas thereby contributing immensely to food security at household level.
“I reiterate my call to all our development partners, stakeholder, farmers’ organisations and other stakeholders to continuously work in partnership with the ministry to foster the level of cooperation and ownership in our country’s agricultural production,” Mutorwa said.
The deputy minister of environment and tourism, Tommy Nambahu said the ministry welcomes the financial and technical support given by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the UNDP.
Nambahu said the provision of equipment and seeds provided to the ministry will solve a number of issues such as transport shortages, timely field preparation and insufficient seeds for farmers.
“The ministry will continue to intensify its efforts with all the stakeholders to ensure that Namibia benefits from projects based on needs and in which the livelihood of our rural communities are continuously improved,” Nambahu said.
UNDP resident representative, Anita Kiki Gbeho said the handover of the equipment is part of the UNDP’s effort to strengthen Namibia’s adaptive capacity in climate change in order to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to droughts and floods.
“Climate change continues to be a significant challenge to this continent’s development in general and Namibia’s war on poverty specifically,” Gbeho said.