San farmers record good harvests despite drought

The communities of Xurube and Perspeka villages, in N?a Jaqna conservancy will have a good harvest from their gardens despite the drought experienced in most parts of the country.
The community gardens which were funded by the European Union (EU) have set the communities on the road to self-sustenance.
Despite the ravaging drought, the Nyae Nyae and N?a Jaqna conservancies have had a successful cropping season and the gardens have produced bumper crops of pumpkins and melons.
According to Lara Diez of the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation Namibia (NNDFN), the EU funds have enabled the communities’ to receive up-to-date farming knowledge and techniques.
“The community members are now able to start sustainable crop cultivation. This enables the community members to be able to feed themselves as well as sell-off the surplus so they can make some money,” she said. According to her, the Xurube villagers have managed to produce sufficient food for their villages and the excess will be sold to other local villages.
Considering the recent dry seasons, the project has proven that projects can work if they are managed well and if they have sufficient community involvement and support.
“The late rains have also meant that the fields produced late cowpeas and maize crops that are being harvested now,” Diez said.
The EU-funded climate change adaptation project is supporting the San communities in these conservancies to diversify their livelihoods and improve food security through gardens, fields and livestock management to complement their traditional lifestyles.
The hand-watered gardens have pumpkins, melons and sweet potatoes which were planted and are doing well. The villages taking part in the project are currently planting winter crops so that there is food during the dry winter months.
The villagers have always lived off the land, but relying on food collected from the veld and the sporadic drought relief is no longer adequate.
This first 18 months of the EU-funded Climate Change project has already demonstrated the benefits of having gardens and the concept will be expanded and developed during the remaining 18 months to improve the self-sufficiency and climate change resilience of these communities.
Namibia’s San population constitutes about 2% of the national population.
The San live on commercial farms, resettlement farms and in communal areas among other ethnic tribes, but some of them live in conservancies or community forests, national parks and in urban locations.
Despite these variations, all of the San groups share a history and experience of marginalisation. The level of poverty of the San is unmatched by any other ethnic group in Namibia, as indicated by the Human Development Index.

STAFF REPORTER