British High Commissioner to Namibia, Charles Moore on Tuesday visited the Berseba integrated community-based food system project in the ||Kharas Region.
Moore said the project has the potential to grow and ensure food security for the community of Berseba and the surrounding areas.
‘Food security is probably one of the most important issues in Namibia. There are too many people that do not have food security, too many that are starving, and that is because of drought caused by poor rains, so teaching the youth about food sustainability is vital because we cannot rely on the weather to feed us every year,’ he said.
The project that started in 2021 is supported through the World Food Programme (WFP), the ||Kharas governor’s office and the Berseba Village Council.
WFP Deputy Country Director, Ericah Shafudah, said the aim of the project is to improve food security, diversify diets and contribute to the social economic development of the community of Berseba through skills development, job creation, prov
ision of infrastructure and good governance structure.
‘For this project to be successful the governance structure should be clear. This is where we need the leadership to ensure that there is a structure in place – be it a cooperative or a close corporation because developers will want to support a project where there are no fights and the future is guaranteed,’ she said.
Shafudah added that ‘one day the support from the development parties will cease but we would not want the project to die, so the youth should work together and put up a structure to ensure that our support is not in vain.’
Berseba Village Council chairperson, Felicia Motinga said the project has not only improved the skills of those involved, but has motivated the community of the village to start backyard gardening to produce their own vegetables.
‘This garden has also changed the lifestyle of our people as they now eat more vegetables and it also gives us joy that our young people are really involved, they have taken ownership amidst
all the challenges and as the leadership we will continue to support wherever we can,’ she said.
The 3.5 hectare land was donated by the village council, and currently four varieties of crops are planted – beetroot, spinach, tomatoes and butternut. The project has five volunteers.
Recently poultry was added and the project has 499 chickens used for laying purposes which can lay up to 300 eggs a day.
Source: Namibia Press Agency