Trophy hunting workshop for farmers

THE Namibia Professional Hunting Association (Napha) and the Emerging Commercial Farmers’ Support Programme will host a workshop on trophy hunting as a lucrative form of land utilisation this month.

The one-day event will take place on Monday, July 28 in partnership with the Lazarus Shinyemba Ipangelwa Foundation at the NamPower Convention Centre in Windhoek. Speakers include the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Governor of the Bank of Namibia, Tom Alweendo, local veterinarian Dr Ulf Tubbesing, and Namibia Breweries Corporate Affairs Manager Gideon Shilongo.The workshops target farmers and emerging commercial farmers who want not only to preserve the game on farms, but to possibly earn an income from sustainable trophy hunting.The idea is to diversify income for farmers instead of only concentrating on livestock.The workshop is part of a comprehensive project of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) together with the Namibia National Farmers’ Union (NNFU) to train newcomers to farming.The Emerging Commercial Farmers Support Programme is funded by the European Union to the tune of N$100 million.According to a strategic plan issued by the Environment and Tourism Ministry in March this year, trophy hunting is estimated to generate around N$500 million per year.Hunting quotas granted to communal conservancies in rural areas in the past two years earned the conservancies around N$11 million annually.Napha was founded in 1974 to promote Namibia as a hunting destination and protect the right to hunt locally.Today, Napha has over 400 hunting professionals as registered members.Additional reporting by NampaSpeakers include the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Governor of the Bank of Namibia, Tom Alweendo, local veterinarian Dr Ulf Tubbesing, and Namibia Breweries Corporate Affairs Manager Gideon Shilongo.The workshops target farmers and emerging commercial farmers who want not only to preserve the game on farms, but to possibly earn an income from sustainable trophy hunting.The idea is to diversify income for farmers instead of only concentrating on livestock.The workshop is part of a comprehensive project of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) together with the Namibia National Farmers’ Union (NNFU) to train newcomers to farming.The Emerging Commercial Farmers Support Programme is funded by the European Union to the tune of N$100 million.According to a strategic plan issued by the Environment and Tourism Ministry in March this year, trophy hunting is estimated to generate around N$500 million per year.Hunting quotas granted to communal conservancies in rural areas in the past two years earned the conservancies around N$11 million annually.Napha was founded in 1974 to promote Namibia as a hunting destination and protect the right to hunt locally.Today, Napha has over 400 hunting professionals as registered members.Additional reporting by Nampa