NAMIBIA

Namibia is the driest country southern of Sahara. Although the country has one of the highest per capital income in Sub Saharan Africa, income distribution is highly skewed, leaving the majority of the people living in object poverty. The Agriculture Sector is divided into Commercial and Communal Farming. Commercial Farming is characterized by high use of capital and technology, while Communal Farming is concentrated on a small part of the country where farmers rely on subsistence farming with little use of scientific techniques. Yet this Sector support more than 70 percent of the population. For these people, ZERI activities hold great potential in improving the yields, providing new techniques and conserving scarce water resources.

Several Training Workshops funded by the UNDP project have been held to assist interested individuals to acquire and to master appropriate mushroom production technologies. Complementary funding support for the hosting of the training activities was provided by the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. An additional contribution was made by the Bremen Overseas Research Assistance (BORDA). Consultations are in progress with the Government Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Rural Development, to map out The Way Forward towards developing a dynamic mushroom production industry in the country. Already, a staff member from the Ministry, based in Grootfontein, who had been trained by the Workshop, has trained 14 others (and is continuing to train 16 more). The trained farmers now consume and market the mushrooms they produce from their local substrates.

A number of ZERI Projects have already been implemented in Namibia, given that HE, Dr Sam Nujoma, the President of the Republic of Namibia took the initiative to sign a Cooperation Agreement in 1996 between the United Nations University and the University of Namibia which involved the establishment of the UNESCO/UNU ZERI Africa Chair to be based at the University of Namibia. Through this Chair, currently held by Professor Keto Mshigeni a number of ZERI Project have been initiated. Considerable support towards the implementation of the ZERI vision in the country has been given by the Office of the UNDP Representative in the country, right from the time when the ZERI Concept was brought to Namibia. UNDP Namibia supported the first ZERI Training workshop held in Windhoek in January 1997. UNDP Namibia has also supported the ZERI based UJAMS Project, under the scientific leadership of the University of Namibia, involving partnerships with the key industrial establishments in Namibia (e.g. Namibia Breweries, Meatco, Hartlief, Windhoek Municipality, etc.), in a project to purify industrial firms (and polluting the environment), through a systems of biogas digesters and related integrated biosystem (IBS). The various categories of wastes will be used to generated new value-added products. These are inclusive of mushrooms, earthworms, biogas, and purified water, which is the suitable for per-Urban agriculture downstream. It is envisaged that US $ 150 000 support secured from UNDP Namibia, will serve as a catalyst for developing a model for Africa's cities of the future.
The Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the University of Namibia has developed mushroom cultivation technology in which mushroom houses have been built through funding support from UNPD Namibia, for promoting research and training a mushroom. The initial phase started with the cultivation oyster mushroom farming.

Through collaborative efforts in a public/private/partnership arrangement between the University of Namibia, Namibia Breweries, and the United Nations University, a new brewery has been built in Tsumeb, the Northern Part of Namibia, adopting zero emissions principals whereby spent grain is being used to generate high-protein edible mushrooms, improved livestock feed supplements, biogas energy, and mineralized, purified, oxygenated water, which is suitable for promoting profitable agriculture downstream.
Considerable commitment to ZERI has been shown by the Government through the interest, the vision an the support rendered to the University of Namibia by HE President Sam Nujoma , President of the Republic of Namibia and Chancellor of the University of Namibia, towards the establishment of a Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre in Henties Bay along the Namibia coast, which will serve as a national and regional centre for promoting ZERI Technologies pertaining to sustainable development of Africa's marine and coastal resources.

There is also clear and serious commitment on ZERI Concept and activities by Namibia private sector, and various Government Ministries. Currently contact institutes engaged spearheading the ZERI Concepts include Faculty of Agriculture and the Faculty of Science, University of Namibia; the Multidisciplinary Research and Consultancy Centre also at the University of Namibia; and the Namibia Breweries.

General Information about Namibia

Capital city:
The capital of Namibia is Windhoek, located almost at the center of the country
Area:
The country covers a total area of about: 825,418 sq km`
Independence:
Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990 from South African mandate
Population:
Estimated to be 1,797,677 People with estimated growth rate of 1.38% (as of July 2001)
Languages:
English is the official language, where Afrikaans is the common language of most of the population. Others includes German and indigenous languages are Oshivambo, Herero, Nama.
Agricultural products:
The agricultural products includes: millet, sorghum, peanuts; livestock; fish