Oshikuku Agri Expo empowers farmers

The second edition of the Oshikuku Agricultural and Training Expo, which ended on Sunday, resolved to provide more financing and training opportunities to empower local farmers.The training will include, but not be limited to, information sharing sessions for farmers and promote modern farming methods, expo chairperson Paratus Nepolo explained.This year&#039;s expo was held under the theme &#039;Modernisation of Agriculture in Africa and Beyond&#039;. Last year, the expo focused on capacity building among farmers and traders.Fast-tracking development Nepolo said over 50 farmers exhibited and have been given the opportunity to take part in both training opportunities and provided with information on how to secure funding.Deputy minister of agriculture, Anna Shiweda, said the hosting of the expo is clear evidence that the organisers are determined to move from theory to practice in order to fast-track agricultural development and growth in the Oshikuku constituency and the region at large.“In addition, the chosen theme of the expo is an indication that the leadership of this town has a vision to modernise agriculture in order to move the farmers from hoeing to mechanical ploughing, planting, weeding, harvesting and threshing; from traditional cereal processing technologies, such as pounding tools, pestles, and mortars, to mechanical hammer mills in order to lessen the burden of manual labour on farmers,” Shiweda said.She added that the expo will encourage, especially female farmers, whenever appropriate and applicable, to switch from utilising traditional seed varieties that take a long time to mature to improved fast-maturing and high-yielding varieties.Enhancing capacity She said the theme also means that by modernising agriculture, the sector’s production capacity is expected to be enhanced, putting it in a better position to increase the production of the inputs that are required to drive and accelerate our industrialisation agenda and programme.Shiweda pointed out that since a majority of Namibians depend on agriculture for their survival, there is no doubt that the modernisation and industrialisation of agriculture will not only contribute to the economic and social upliftment of many Namibians but will also go a long way to assist us in redressing the current skewed distribution of income and wealth between the rich and the poor sections of society.She said they can only increase the resilience of the agriculture sector to climate change through adaptation and mitigation strategies that are based on modern and innovative agriculture techniques, such as conservation agriculture and precision agriculture.

Oshikuku Agri Expo empowers farmers

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