Horticulture project launched at Otimboyo Conservancy
The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism recently handed over a horticultural project at Otimboyo Conservancy in the Erongo region.
The project, funded under the CBNRM EDA project and implemented through the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF), was set up to address issues of food security in their community to avoid depending on handouts from the government and also to ensure water softening that will benefit not only the community but garden as well.
“Because this is a community project and that community members must benefit, I am proud to say that we have shared fresh produce from the garden with the elderly as a way of ensuring that our members derive from the benefits of their project,” said Theofelius Iyambo Naruseb, Chairperson of the Otjimboyo Conservancy.
Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta, said the order for the economy to blossom, investment in small and medium-scale producers is key.
“Mobilize them to stop producing for their immediate family needs alone but make to adopt a business-like attitude to production, and view their activities as commercial ones that can substantially increase their earnings and improve their livelihoods. If this can be achieved, we shall have begun to seriously address the problem of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and food shortages in general,” added Shifeta.
The project was funded at the cost of N$1.7 million under the Climate Resilient Agriculture investment window under the Empower to Adapt (EDA) project, which is centered around Creating Climate Change Resilient Livelihoods through Community Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia (CBNRM EDA Project).
