The government through the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform recently held a training exercise where farmers from marginalised groups were trained on small-stock farming and production.
The training was held under the Improving Rangeland and Ecosystem Management Practices of Smallholder Farmers Under Conditions of Climate Change Project (IREMA).
“The training saw 25 farmers, mainly 11 male and 14 female farmers and 19 farmers from marginalized groups such as the Himba, San and Zemba receiving training on small stock production,” the Ministry said.
The training was aimed at equipping the beneficiaries of the project with improved small-stock farming and production skills.
“The overall goal of the training is to enable goats’ beneficiaries who received goats from IREMA & MAWLR in 2022 to increase their knowledge and skills in sustainable small-stock farming and production/husbandry practices including marketing, revolving scheme regulations and challenges faced by beneficiaries. The training was centered on improving small stock production knowledge, improving skills among beneficiaries, promoting the small stock revolving scheme amongst beneficiaries and emphasising more revolving scheme by-laws,” the MAWRL said.
According to the Ministry, the training was conducted over four days at training sites in Khorixas and Opuwo.
The training was conducted by different stakeholders such as the Agricultural Bank of Namibia, the Directorate of Agriculture Production, Extension and Engineering Services (DAPEES) and the IREMA Regional Technical Officer.
“Training handouts and other relevant literature were presented to the participants as reference materials. The training covered the sum of following topics to animal health, record-keeping, small stock Husbandry, general body condition observations, diagnose sick, healthy goats, kraal hygiene, vaccination and dosing, marketing, flock composition, breeding and many more in general, the effect of climate change and advantage of farming with small stock farming, revolving scheme concept, roles and responsibilities of beneficiaries in ensuring successful implementation of the revolving scheme,” the MAWRL said.
The Ministry further explains that the training enabled participants to understand animal health, nutrition and animal husbandry as well as how the programme could improve the livelihoods of the community.
The IREMA project is implemented by the Ministry in collaboration with the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia.
The project is aimed at minimising the susceptibility of smallholder farmers to climate change by safeguarding the natural capital that creates ecosystem services in order to sustain the agricultural production system.
In 2022 the IREMA project procured 630 goats which benefited 29 beneficiaries while the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform also procured 441 goats which benefited 21 farmers in the Kunene Region.
