Mission Statement
The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry exists to promote and facilitate the environmentally sustainable development, management and utilisation of water and agricultural resources to achieve sound socio-economic development together with all citizens.
- To sustain agricultural and water resources.
- To improve levels of household food security and nutrition nationally.
- To ensure access of all Namibians to clean and safe portable water.
- To improve rural income at both national and household levels.
- To maintain and rehabilitate essential ecological processes, life support systems and biological diversity.
- To ensure the sustainable and optimal utilization of renewable resource.
How the minstry works: The approach of the Ministry(FSRE)
FSRE in the Ministry
FSRE stands for Farming System Research and Extension. FSRE in the wider sense arises from the search for an alternative way to achieve agricultural development in the parts of the world that have not been suited to the approach that evolved from the green revolution. This involved the application of standard technological packages, delivered as a transfer of technology using extension techniques such as training and visit.
In simple terms, this approach failed in areas where agricultural complexity, diversity, risk (CDR) or a combination of the three make such standard packages inappropriate and where farmers thus do not respond to or adopt them.
The FSRE approach was adopted in the Ministry in 1997 and understanding implementation has gradually evolved since then. At the annual FSRE Conference in 2003, a paper outlining the current consensus on the approach was generally accepted as reflecting the Namibian position on FSRE and this forms the basis against which the understanding of the approach is assessed. The essence of the FSRE approach is its participatory nature, placing responsibility to lead the development process firmly in the hands of rural communities and lending support to this process through multi-disciplinary and collaborative input from the various Government and non-government service providers available to any community. The NSU was established in November 2003 in the office of the Permanent Secretary of the MAWF, and aims to improve the understanding, use and capacity for the FSRE approach in the Ministry.
One of the primary tasks of the Unit is to produce a series of Regional Situation Analysis Reports. These assess in each region of Namibia, the level of understanding regarding FSRE, the capacity to implement the approach, its appropriateness and also identify the support needed to improve effectiveness. It is envisaged that these analyses will contribute to both the identification of best practices and setting of priority areas for support.
A report has been compiled,
drawing first conclusions about the use of the FSRE approach in the
Ministry.
Government Office Park, Private Bag 13184, Windhoek, Tel:+264 61 2087111, Fax: +264 61 221733