The Diworoka Ruhepo Community Garden in the Marema village of the Kavango West Region recently received Agro-inputs and tools valued at N.dollars 3.4 million from the Government of Japan.

Receiving the donation at an event held under the theme ‘leaving no one behind, building resilience’ recently, Kavango West Governor, Sirkka Ausiku, said the event is part of the emergency response and resilience building to improve livelihoods, food security and nutrition in locust affected regions of Namibia project.

Ausiku noted the region is plagued by poverty and a high unemployment rate, therefore the community garden has created employment for many youths, noting that the agriculture sector can create employment, especially given good investments, such as the donation.

Quoting the Namibia Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report from the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) of 2021, Ausiku noted that the Kavango West Region had the highest incidences of multidimensional poverty at 79.6 per cent, poverty at 27.9 per cent, whilst regional employment stood at 33 per cent and youth unemployment at 46.6 per cent.

“These statistics are worrisome to us and the region identified agriculture, manufacturing and tourism as sectors that we believe with good investments that can create needed employment and address poverty,” said Ausiku, noting that aside from the assistance with agriculture, Japan also supported education through the construction of schools in the region.

NAMPA

Source: The Namibian Press Agency