An evaluation of green scheme projects in the Kavango: The awareness, integration and capacity building of small scale farmers
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Date
2018
Authors
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
The main objective of this study was to evaluate Green Scheme projects in the Kavango region with specific emphasis on the awareness, integration, and capacity building of small scale farmers. The Shadikongoro Green Scheme project from the Mukwe constituency and the Ndonga Linena Green Scheme project from the Ndonga Linena constituency, were purposively selected for this study. As per the statistics from the national census in 2001 and 2011, the Kavango region (now Kavango East and West) remains one of the poorest regions in Namibia, despite being host to seven of the eleven Green Scheme Projects countrywide. This poses a series of questions on the areas of awareness, integration and capacity building of one of the Green Scheme Programme’s target population; the smallholder farming communities also known as small scale farmers (SSFs). A case study using semi-structured questionnaires and face to face interviews was employed to investigate three factors for this study. Respondents for this study were randomly selected. The findings revealed that, only 45.2% of the participants within the Mukwe constituency indicated they were aware of the opportunity of becoming small scale farmers within the Green Schemes and a lower proportion from the Ndonga Linena constituency (37.5%). In terms of integration, the study uncovered that, there have not been any small scale farmers recruitment for the past five years and a majority of those integrated suggested they need trainings in the use of modern farm machinery and up to date horticultural trainings. From the findings, it is clear that more needs to be done in terms of enhancing community awareness, integration as well as capacity building of small scale (smallholder) farmers if the Green Scheme Programme (GSP) is to realise its objectives of poverty reduction and food security in general and in the Kavango region in particular. This study, therefore recommends that, awareness and skills transfer programmes be developed for each Green Scheme project and their corresponding host communities as informed by periodic need-gap analysis.
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration (Natural Resources Management)
Keywords
Green scheme projects, Capacity building, Small scale farmers