FAO Namibia staff recently undertook a field visit to the Nauasaport Rural Youth Gardening Project, located 30km south of Windhoek. The aim of the visit was to meet some of the young people involved in the project for which FAO provided inputs to establish a garden project. Initiated by the Directorate of Youth Development of the Ministry of Youth, Sport and National Services (MSYNS), the project aims to empower young people in the small community of only 500 inhabitants to successfully engage in horticulture. Most of the youth living in Nauasaport are out of school, are unemployed and face further hardships brought about by drought.

“There is a very low level of awareness of crop production and this project aims to expose young people to the possibilities of starting a garden. Thus we aim to demonstrate the techniques of cash crop production at this scale.  Another critical objective is to address the dire food insecurity in the community,” says Bonnie Gawaseb Regional Head of Youth Development at MYSNS.

 FAO provided materials to erect a greenhouse on the apportioned section of land allocated, tools to prepare the soil, as well as seeds and seedlings. The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry also provided technical expertise and the testing of soil samples from the land. Further to this, five young people who have been identified to be key custodians of the project, have been trained Horticultural techniques and business.

Cornelius Shoombe, one of the youth who were trained is gardening basics explains that, “We only used survive from the social grants of our elderly parents. This is not good because some of us have children ourselves.” The 31 year- old works in the project and has been instrumental in mobilising other youth to join. “We want to see everything here grow and be proud that we are able to benefit and uplift ourselves in this community,” he says.

The project identified beneficiaries from the community who showed interest in acquiring agricultural skills and used a training of trainers approach to ensure that participants will be able to train other young people. Support to this project falls under FAO priority 2 of the Country Programming Framework which works towards improved agricultural production, productivity, food safety and value chains.