Brazil helps feed the nation
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a U$120 000 contribution from Brazil to support integrated community-based food systems programmes in Namibia.Since 2020, the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) has supported WFP Food Systems Programmes in Tsumkwe, Gobabis, Stampriet, Opuwo, and Olukula. The programmes are designed to improve productivity, combat hunger and benefit more than 300 smallholder farmers.
“The objective of the food systems programmes is to contribute to Namibia’s Zero Hunger efforts while enhancing household food and nutrition security, transforming rural livelihoods through increased production, job creation, value-chain development, and fostering sustainable, catalytic food systems,” Acting Country Director of WFP in Namibia Tiwonge Machiwenyika, said.
As a direct result of the funding from Brazil, a significant impact has been observed in these five communities, including job creation and building local capacity, with over 100 smallholder farmers trained in financial management, farm management, good agricultural practices, value addition, processing, and market readiness skills.
“This is precisely the aim of ABC in each South-South cooperation project, to empower people by providing the tools to produce food, market their products, and to establish successful models that can be replicated elsewhere,” Brazilian ambassador to Namibia, Vivian Loss Sanmartin, said.
These efforts have led to impressive outcomes at Olukula Integrated Food Systems Project, including harvests exceeding five metric tonnes of vegetable produce and the production of over 65 000 eggs from poultry in 2024. The project has reached a 50 per cent increase in local vegetable production and received the Emerging Producer of the Year Award (1st runner-up) at the Annual National Agronomy and Horticulture Awards hosted by the Namibia Agronomic Board in September 2024.