The Namibian

28 May 2019

MARIENTAL - With the recent conversion of vegetable farmers to animal herders, there has been an increase in livestock being raised. But the inexperience of the new herders have caused inadequate kraals to be made. The herders are also practicing unsustainable practices with most of them either not knowing how to practice sustainable farming or just not caring about how they farm.

The increase in livestock leading to increased grazing of vegetation has caused herders to travel further and graze on more lands, chasing and killing animals which threaten their livestock and the land they feed on. There have been outcries from animal activists and environmentalists, calling for immediate actions to expand the conservancy to protect the land and Namibian precious natural resources.

A herder in Hardap, Bambooni commented in an interview, “The activists and environmentalists always have their complaints. You think we want to do this? We have no choice! We have to feed our families and this is the only way we know how to farm, the only way we can farm! If they have a way to solve our “hungry” problem as well as achieve their “protection of animals and environment”, then show it to us! We, herders, would be happy to hear them!”