The Namibia Correctional Service (NCS) has launched an integrated food production project at the Hardap Correctional Facility in collaboration with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Impact for Africa (IFA), and Lithon Project Consultants.
NCS Commissioner-General Raphael Hamunyela at the launch in Mariental on Thursday said the project will support the scaling-up of domestic food production, the development of agricultural value chains, and the improvement of socio-economic outcomes.
He stated that Namibia has learned from the current global challenges of food security and affordability, and that one of these lessons is the importance of cooperating to increase capacity to produce adequate food locally.
“I am pleased to report that the collaboration between the United Nations World Food Programme and the Namibian Correctional Service has been a positive step,” he said.
He added that further evidence of the value of these collaborations include the establishment of hydroponics projects at four correctional facilities – in Gobabis, Oluno, Walvis Bay and at the Windhoek Female Correctional Facility.
Other collaborations have led to the donation of eight metric tonnes of wheat seeds at the Divundu, Evaristus Shikongo and Hardap Correctional Facilities, as well as the installation of a 10-hectare centre pivot irrigation system equipped with 42 solar panels at the Hardap Correctional Facility.
He stated that while food production is not the NCS’s primary mandate, it has identified the need to teach agricultural skills for inmate rehabilitation and reintegration, as well as to achieve food self-sufficiency.
According to Adriaan Grobler, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lithon, the four-week project was made possible because all stakeholders share one common goal – to transform lives.
He stated that the only way to achieve impact is through collaboration, in which every skill and resource is pooled to create an intervention that will transform lives.
Grobler said they will start by planting pumpkin, watermelon and butternut on the 70 hectares of land, which will then be supplied to the NCS and the National School Feeding Programme.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
