Empowering small-scale farmers

Two climate change projects to the tune of N$300 million that will benefit more than 97 000 rural residents were launched in Windhoek last week.The projects are funded by the Green Climate Change Fund which was created to support the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change. The projects are known as the Climate Resilient Agriculture in three of the vulnerable extreme northern crop-growing regions (Crave) project and the Empower to Adapt: creating Climate-Change Resilient Livelihoods through Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia (EDA-CBNRM) Project.Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta said at the launch that more than half of the Namibian population live in rural areas and depend heavily on subsistence farming. “These people represent the segment of the country's population that will be affected most by climate change because they are already facing existing vulnerabilities in terms of social, economic and gender imbalances. It is incumbent upon us as the government to strengthen the resilience and capacity of these vulnerable sectors of the population,” he said. The Crave project is a conservation agriculture project. It is worth approximately N$150 million and will be implemented in the Zambezi, Kavango East and Kavango West regions. The project is aimed at reducing the vulnerability of rural communities and food insecurity related to climate risks and threats, while simultaneously increasing the adaptive capacity and well-being of the affected communities. This project, which will be implemented by the agricultural ministry will benefit up to 21 000 small-scale farmers in the said regions. The steering committee for this project has been already been set up and the Environmental Investment Fund and agricultural ministry have completed the recruitment process for the project implementation unit. Awareness creation regarding the project's outcomes is under way and this project is ready to be rolled out. The second project, Empower to Adapt, also valued at N$150 million, is expected to benefit more than 76 500 rural residents.It is aimed at reducing the climate vulnerabilities and increasing the resilience of locals residing within community-based natural resource management areas by incorporating climate adaptation response strategies into their ongoing local practices. The overall goal is to ensure that their assets and livelihoods are protected from climate-induced risks such as droughts, floods, seasonal shifts and other climate disasters. Shifeta said climate change is recognised as one of the greatest global challenges and Namibia is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects and impacts of climate change. According to him climate change has the potential to undermine economic development, particularly the natural-resource-based sectors of the economy such as the agriculture and fisheries sectors.“The whole issue of climate change also brings into focus our challenges in terms of water security and local capacity for provision of energy as well as the need for transformative solutions to these challenges such as the development of renewable energy sources and alternative methods of water supply such as desalination and aquifer recharge.” Namibia ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on 21 September 2016. He said Namibia is already implementing this agreement based on its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) document, which was approved by the cabinet in 2015 and outlines the country's intended actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The INDC contains a number of targets, which are deliberately ambitious as a signal of Namibia's seriousness to tackle climate change and to mobilise the necessary resources for climate change investments.The INDC targets includes increasing the share of renewables in electricity production to 70% by 2030 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 89% by 2030; reducing the deforestation rate by 75%; extending conservation agriculture to 80 000 hectares by 2030; and restoring 15 million hectares of grassland by 2030. “These targets highlight the importance that mitigating and adapting to climate change can play in moving towards a Namibia that is secure in terms of energy, water and food production,” said Shifeta. ELLANIE SMIT

Empowering small-scale farmers

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-18

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Empowering small-scale farmers

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-18

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