About 45 agricultural extension and forestry officers on Monday started a six-day training programme at Oshakati on the farmers’ field schools (FFS) concept.
The training forms part of the Drylands Sustainable Landscapes Impact Project (DSL-IP), which plans to establish field schools in three landscapes in northern Namibia.
The officers are from the Kunene-Cuvelai, Kavango and Etosha landscapes of the Mopane-Miombo Belt.
DSL-IP national coordinator Reinhold Kambuli says the training aims to equip agricultural extension and forestry officers with skills to introduce the FFS concept to rural communities.
Communities in the three landscapes are also being trained to run field schools.
Their work will be supported by agricultural extension and forestry officers, whose existing work is similar to what the programme seeks to achieve.
“At the moment, agricultural extension and forestry officers are extremely stressed due to limited resources.
“So, the project is simply trying to complement the government’s efforts so the officers understand the FFS concept,” Kambuli says.
He says the project plans to establish 220 field schools across the three landscapes, reaching about 7 200 people.
“Each FFS should have 30 farmers,” he says.
A FFS is not a conventional school. Farmers learn in the field through practical activities involving crops, soil, water and other natural resources.
The schools aim to help communities address challenges such as land degradation, water scarcity, climate change and biodiversity loss, while improving agricultural production.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with funding from the Global Environment Facility, has signed an agreement with the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) to support the establishment of the schools.
Two experts have been appointed through the partnership to assist the project.
Speaking at the training on Monday, FAO Namibia officer in charge Ferdinand Mwapopi called on participants to strengthen their facilitation skills and focus on practical solutions that communities can adopt and sustain.
He said the partnership with IIRR aims to establish functioning field schools in the three landscapes and build a network of community-based facilitators.
Mwapopi said the IIRR will support the project in six areas: strategic alignment and preparation, landscape planning using the land degradation neutrality lens, capacity development, implementation, evaluation and reporting.
The DSL-IP is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism.
The project is being implemented in 11 countries across Africa and Asia.
In Namibia, it was launched in March 2023 and is expected to run until April 2028.
