Farmers reap benefits of conservation agriculture

To mitigate the impacts of weather variabilities such as drought and flooding, agriculture in Namibia needs to adopt climate resilient practices.According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), conservation agriculture is a climate-smart agriculture approach that farmers have taken up in order to protect their livelihoods and resources.The organisation said that conservation agriculture has helped communal smallholder farmers in the northern regions of Namibia to strengthen their resilience and improve food and nutrition security of their households."This year I harvested a lot more maize, mahangu and sorghum compared to last season, thanks to the knowledge I received on applying conservation agriculture farming principles. Even my neighbours have noticed the positive change in my production and have taken an interest," said Petrus Shipena, a farmer from Ondeikela village.EmpoweredMartha Nahole, a conservation agriculture farmer from Ondembo in the Oshikoto Region, said "before adopting conservation agriculture, my crop yields were meagre, I struggled to get a sufficient harvest from my field, mostly because of the soil, which I suspect is now ‘tired’ due to all the years of heavy tillage."She said that the old farming practices are not working and many farmers are no longer reaping the rewards of their hard work.Shipena and others are conservation agriculture champions in their communities, the FAO said.They share knowledge and resources to empower their counterparts through platforms such as farmer field schools organised by the agriculture ministry with the support of FAO.Farmers have also pointed out that the conservation agriculture approach has allowed their crop fields to "breathe" as it exerts less pressure on the soil, which further prevents losses of arable land while allowing degraded lands to regenerate.RefugeThe approach has three key principles: minimising soil disturbance (no-tillage), providing permanent soil cover, and diversification of plant species."Because of the dryland crop production that smallholder farmers are engaged in, most parts of the country have no permanent water sources such as dams for irrigation. The problem is compounded by the high evaporation rate of rain water due to the country’s extremely hot climatic conditions," the FAO said.The FAO added that conservation agriculture provides farmers with a refuge from these harsh conditions.FAO, through the project Strengthening Coordination, Scaling up and Governance of Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa (SUCASA), is supporting an evaluation exercise of Namibia’s Comprehensive Conservation Agriculture Programme (CCAP).The project is financially supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

Farmers reap benefits of conservation agriculture

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Namibian Sun 2026-01-30

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Farmers reap benefits of conservation agriculture

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Namibian Sun 2026-01-30

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