School of Agriculture and Fisheries Sciences

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Climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder livestock farmers in Namibia's Omaheke Region, Namibia
(Discover Sustainability, 2025) Siririka, Ndjipua Avihe Tjaondjo; Charamba, Vonai; Mupangwa, Johnfisher; Shipandeni, Maria N. T.; Kahumba, Absalom
The challenges of climate change are continuously increasing, constituting a major threat to livestock production, which is more than a socio-economic cornerstone in Namibian rural communal farmers, contributing approximately two-thirds of the country’s agricultural GDP. Climate variability, which may be in the form of drought, very high temperatures, floods and frosts has been reported to have detrimental effects on feed and water availability, leading to reduced livestock weight, growth, production and reproductive performance, and ultimately high mortality. Understanding smallholder farmers’ socio-psychological antecedents such as knowledge, attitudes and perceptions and the way they influence their level of adaptation to CC mitigation strategies needs to be assessed, as it guides CC policy formulation and intervention programmes. The study investigated CC perception and adaptation strategies for livestock farmers in Omaheke Region. Data were gathered from (n=80) purposively sampled farmers in Epukiro and Otjombinde constituencies based on livestock ownership. The study revealed that 93.8% of the respondents were aware that the climate is changing, with attributes such as very high and very low temperatures, high and low rainfall, and drought having been noticed. Climate change has been attributed to both human and natural activity. The study observed that the implementation of CC adaptation strategies in livestock agriculture is low, thus recommends that the improvement of adaptation techniques involving employing extension services, promotion of farmer-to-farmer extension, and utilization of various information sources of climate knowledge, such as farmers’ associations and social organizations, should be the future policy priority
Evaluation of factors affecting productivity and profitability of Lohmann Brown layers in a semi-arid environment
(2020) Samkange, Alaster; Kandiwa, Erick; Mushonga, Borden; Amunyela, Selma A.; Bishi, Alec S.; Charamba, Vonai; Mbiri, Pricilla
A prospective 27-week study investigated the effect of age, ambient temperature, humidity and photoperiod on egg weight and production in Lohmann Brown layers, and thus the profitability of the egg-producing enterprise at a farm in central Namibia, designated Farm A. Overall, age of birds, average temperature, humidity and photoperiod were strongly correlated with mean egg weight (r=0.84, 0.7, -0.51 and 0.7, respectively; p<0.001) but there was a weaker correlation of age, temperature, humidity and photoperiod to the number of eggs/bird (r=0.49, 0.41, -0.43 and 0.34, respectively). Increase in the age of birds, temperature and photoperiod resulted in a significant increase in mean egg weight. A decrease in humidity, however, resulted in a significant increase in mean egg weight. Labour and feed costs contributed 51% and 14%, respectively, to the overall costs of the enterprise. Egg sales contributed the bulk of the income at 88%, which was followed by the sale of spent layers at 12%.The study concluded that Lohmann Brown layers performed well in the semi-arid conditions of central Namibia provided that extreme environmental conditions are avoided. The high input costs, especially labour and feed, were the main constraints to profitability and finding ways to reducing these costs is key to increasing profitability. Increasing the size of the flock is one practical way of offsetting the high labour costs.
Indigenous knowledge of browse species and nutritional quality of dominant indigenous browse species in the Kavango West Region of Namibia
(Discover Sustainability, 2024) Hamukwaya, Rosa N.; Charamba, Vonai; Kahumba, Absalom; Shipandeni, Maria N. T.; Mupangwa, Johnfisher
Livestock production is crucial to the livelihoods of rural Namibians but highly constrained by feed shortages due to climate change and bush encroachment. The study investigated the grazing and feeding practices and indigenous knowledge of browsable and non-browsable species by interviewing 30 small-scale farmers in the Kavango West Region. It assessed the nutritive value for the three most commonly identified browsable species. The study observed that livestock relies on communal rangeland, roadside, and riverside grazing, with supplements from crop residues during the dry seasons. However, most farmers experience feed shortages mainly in the dry season, which results in decreased livestock productivity. Farmers are knowledgeable on browsable and non-browsable woody species in their locality, but most do not harvest pods, leaves and twigs to supplement their animals in the dry season, citing labour shortage, and they are not aware that the bush species resources can be harvested and be used during seasons when feed resources are scarce. The nutritive value analysis indicated that there is a need for strategic supplementation of the browsable species for them to be effectively utilised as livestock feed, thus farmers must be capacitated on when and how to utilise these species when herbaceous pasture grasses and legumes are senescent as well as how to harvest forage alongside rivers and roads for stall feeding to avoid accidents. Our findings will be important for policy formulation in trying to come up with better ways of mitigating the consequences of climate change
Quantification and characterization of nutrients in Senegalia mellifera milled biomass, feed intake and nitrogen balance in female Boer goats fed with Senegalia mellifera bush-based feeds
(International Journal of Agricultural Research and Review, 2024) Epafras, A.; Mupangwa, Johnfisher; Charamba, Vonai; De la Puerta, M. L. F.
The objectives of this study were to quantify and characterise the nutritional content of milled Senegalia mellifera milled biomass obtained from nine blocks at Neudamm Farm and to determine the dry matter intake (DMI), apparent digestibility and nitrogen retention in female Boer goats fed with Senegalia mellifera bush based feeds. Wood ash (WA), polyethylene glycol (PEG, 6 000) and biochar were evaluated as tannin deactivation methods. The milled biomass of S. mellifera was mixed using a clean concrete mixer with the following ingredients: yellow maize meal, liquid molasses; Marula oil press cake and coarse salt to formulate a complete diet with 14% CP and 11MJ ME/kg. Detannification treatment methods were added at a level of 5 g per day during feeding time. We used eight (8) female Boer goats weighing an average of 31.5 kg (± 2.5 kg) for the feeding experiment. We penned the goats individually in metabolic cages. Clean water was available ad libitum to the goats during the entire feeding experiment. The goats were fed in a 4x4 cross over Latin square design with four periods of experimental feeding. Each period lasted for 17 days, resulting in 68 days of experimental feeding. The goats were fed twice daily at 09:00h and 16:00h. The level of dry matter (DM) of feed offered was 4% of body weight. The results obtained in this study showed that there was a significant difference (p <0.05) in the chemical composition of Senegalia mellifera milled biomass harvested from the nine blocks at Neudamm Farm. The CP content of Senegalia mellifera milled biomass ranged from 9.39 to 9.68 %DM while the NDF and ADF ranged from 59.17 to 64.33%DM and 43.77 to 48.01%DM, respectively. The condensed tannins (CT) content from all blocks did not differ (p >0.05) and had a mean of 0.02 to 0.03%DM as leucocyanidin equivalent (LE Absorbance at 550 nm). The apparent digestibility coefficients of DM, OM and NDF were not significantly different among treatments and the control diet (p >0.05). Goats fed biochar treated diet had the highest nitrogen intake of 13.74g/d (p <0.05), faecal nitrogen of 8.43g/d (p <0.05) and nitrogen retention of 5.11g/d (p <0.05), while goats fed the control feed (CNT), PEG and WA were similar (p >0.05). All treatments resulted in a positive nitrogen retention (p >0.05) with mean values ranging from 3.79 to 5.11 g/d. The study concluded that, there was a significant difference (p <0.05) in the chemical composition of S. mellifera milled biomass collected from nine blocks at Neudamm Farm. Given the high CP content of the S. mellifera, this fodder resource can be considered a suitable supplement for poor quality (low N content) natural pastures and crop residues such as grass hay, straw and stover. The study also concluded that, there was a significant difference (p <0.05) in the DMI, and nitrogen balance in Boer goats fed with A. mellifera feeds treated with Wood ash (WA), Polyethylene glycol (PEG, 6 000) and Biochar (BIO). The study therefore recommends that each detannification method should be tested at different rates of inclusion in S. mellifera bush based feed resources
Utilising encroacher bush in animal feeding
(Springer, 2023) Mupangwa, Johnfisher; Lutaaya, Emmanuel; Shipandeni, Maria Ndakula Tautiko; Kahumba, Absalom; Charamba, Vonai; Shiningavamwe, Katrina Lugambo
Livestock production is a major economic and livelihood activity in Namibia which contributes at least 75% to total agricultural output. The industry faces challenges including prolonged droughts, increased production costs, bush encroachment, variable climatic conditions and disease outbreaks. Bush encroachment and prolonged drought spells pose a major concern as they result in reduced carrying capacity of rangelands. The encroacher woody browse plants are potential animal feeds as they provide considerable amount of biomass from leaves and small twigs as well as pods that provide nutrients to ruminant livestock during the long dry season. Converting the biomass from the encroacher bushes into livestock fodder is one best management practice of controlling bush encroachment while increasing the availability of ruminant feeds sustainably without competing with human food production. Our chapter provides data on the nutritional content of encroacher bushes in different seasons and feeding value of bush-based feeds as an alternative feed resource for ruminant livestock. The chapter presents the opportunity and evidence that shows that utilising encroacher bush-based feeds in ruminant livestock feeding results in animal growth and the production of quality carcasses that contribute to human protein food. We conclude that the utilisation of rangeland encroacher bush species in sub-Saharan Africa in bush-based feeds provides sufficient nutrients to support improved ruminant livestock production and contributes to rangeland ecosystems restoration

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