Feature: Novel gardening method promotes urban farming in Namibian capital

A novel aquaponic gardening method that infuses urban gardening with climate change responsiveness is set to feed households while providing income to struggling dwellers in the Namibian capital.

The aquaponics gardening system "uses 5 percent of recycled water compared to traditional soil gardening, with plants growing from charcoal cones sticking out from the bed of polystyrene afloat water," explained Thomas Karumendu, group leader of the Aquaponic Gardening project.

This is a model of farming that could be adopted by city dwellers struggling to make ends meet, a difficult life that Karumendu knows too well.

Karumendu recalls the times he battled to make ends meet and struggled to establish a garden in Windhoek. But like many city dwellers, access to water and land for farming was a challenge.

As luck would have it for him, he was introduced to aquaponic gardening, which he runs at a primary school grounds in the city's Katutura suburb.

"Although the garden is not in my own yard, I am happy to be introduced to a new method of urban gardening and hands-on," he said.

Karumendu, along with two women and four other men are the pioneers of the aquaponics gardening project.

With lettuce taking root in a shaded net from a stream of water underneath charcoal cones, Karumendu and his team recently harvested the first yield of lettuce from an Aquaponic garden at the school located in Greenwell Matongo, a residential area dominated by shack dwellings.

"Not only have we found employment, but we became passionate about the gardening technique," said Karumendu, adding that now he is able to produce food to feed the city dwellers, and contribute to the country's vision for self-sufficiency.

The skills gained were enhanced with a training on urban farming and aquaponic gardening. "We were trained by the Windhoek Municipality and its key stakeholders. Since then, we took it upon ourselves to show fellow city dwellers that gardening in urban areas is workable and prospective," Karumendu said on Wednesday.

The Khomas region ranks at 5 percent of recognized poverty instances and as such, the Windhoek Municipality is breaking boundaries to come up with a formula that will ease the lives of poverty stricken households through Aquaponic gardening.

According to Antonio Wohler, Community Development Officer at the City of Windhoek, the most disadvantaged members of the city, especially those residing in informal settlements, benefit from the yields of the Aquaponic garden.

"With the harvest, we look at the most needy community members, especially the unemployed and most vulnerable- we look at their circumstances. Then we look at how much we produce and provide such households with fresh produce every month," he said.

The yields are not only for consumption, the project implementers also aim to establish market chains for income generation. For marketing, harvest form the garden is traded to low income earners.

"If we still have left over, we market in to various communities and sell it to them to generate an income to be able to sustain our project," Wohler said.

To expand the project and tackle poverty, the City of Windhoek is now looking to secure a bigger piece of land to benefit the larger population, revealed Wohler.

In the interim, while the Municipality explores to secure land for gardening, pioneers of the project said that government ought to ensure investment towards food security in urban areas and to educate dwellers on urban farming as this would lift burdens of food insecurity, hunger and poverty from households.

"We can put more Aquaponic systems and gardens in Windhoek, in open spaces. I therefore call on the constituency councilor to avail land for us. We are ready to make it work, integrate the community and supply with food. This is not only for the government to invest in and for employment creation, but also for food security," Karumendu said.

The project is funded by the Pupkewitz Foundation, World Future Council and Namibia Future Farming. Endit