30 Oct 2023

An environmentalist, Mr Seloilwe Seloilwe, has underscored the need to educate farmers on issues associated with climate change so that they can counterbalance the effects and promote sustainability in food security.

Mr Seloilwe, who is also the Nhabe Farmers Day project coordinator, said food security could be achievable only when farmers learnt and adopted measures to mitigate climate change which had adversely wreaked havoc in the area of food production.

He made the remarks in an interview during the Nhabe Farmers Day which was held at Lunar garden over the weekend.

The aim of the event was to make agriculture more climate smart hence deterring climate change and increasing the adaptive capacities of farmers.

Mr Seloilwe, who is also the founder of Climate and Life organization, said farmers had to understand that there was a significant interrelationship between climate change and agriculture and as such, smart agriculture was the best approach for transforming agricultural practices and improve food security.

The event, he said, aimed to bring along farmers to learn new technologies of farming motivated by climate change.

“Climate change is a reality and threatens food security and as such farmers should be aware of the long term changes in weather pattern and change practices to deal with socio-economic changes.

They should adopt smart agricultural practices including diversifying their farming enterprise,” he added.

The Ngamiland farmers did not turn up in large numbers but Mr Seloilwe said majority were discouraged to come because they had nothing to showcase due to severe drought that destroyed their crops.

He called on farmers to embrace mind-set change in agriculture and do things differently citing that climate change effects called for change in crop management practices and strategies to sustain food security.

Farmers were urged to take events like farmers day seriously as they could help empower and capacitate them to do things in a different way, learn new farming techniques that could help them to remain relevant in farming.

He said some farmers had resorted to relocating to urban areas because of climate change effects, but he discouraged them against the move saying they could easily sustain themselves if they implemented proper strategies.

Mr Seloilwe said they intended to host the event on annual basis and rotate it in various areas within the region with a view to engage local farmers to revive the agriculture sector and contribute to food security.

He also appreciated the advice from some agricultural experts who said the event should be held in good seasons adding that “our aim is to make farming fashionable. We want to motivate fellow young people to venture into sustainable agricultural projects and address unemployment at the same time feeding the nation.”

The event was held under the theme “Herding for Health; a sustainable and profitable way of farming”. ENDS