City looks into urban agriculture

Increasing urban food security in Namibia is confronting local authorities with new challenges and the need to increase capabilities to develop local plans of actions and interventions.
Mayors and local government authorities in the country including the City of Windhoek and the World Future Council held a Regional Workshop on Food and Nutrition Security in Windhoek this week.
The consultative workshop focused on food and nutrition, amongst other issues, the scarcity of water for urban agriculture interventions. The re-use and on-site purification of waste water, improvement of soil quality with biomass and utilization of seawater for greenhouses was also on the agenda.
The results of the workshop are expected to form the starting point of piloting urban agriculture initiatives in urban neighborhood in the country.
The newly re-elected Mayor of Windhoek said at the opening event of the two-day workshop that the City Council passed a resolution on the establishment of Windhoek food systems that will focus on a food bank and urban agriculture initiatives.
“With yet another year of low rainfall however, the availability of water for urban agriculture is an enormous challenge in Windhoek. The focus of the workshop will lie on sharing experiences about agriculture in arid regions, re-use of waste water and innovative technologies that allow to practice (peri-) urban agriculture in face of water scarcity.
We have since established a Committee on Food Security led by two Councilors.” Muesee Kazapua said.
A policy review for urban and peri-urban agriculture development in Windhoek to be carried out by the Resource Centre for Urban Agriculture and Food Security formed the basis of discussions for needed policy amendment to institutionalize the needed interventions.