Livestock farmers in the Erongo Region and surrounding areas are implementing strategies to improve their resilience to climate change.

The livestock farmers attended an agricultural show at the Omaruru-Karibib-Usakos Local Authorities (OKULAC) joint trade festival at Karibib.

One of the prominent farmers, Gerhard Kamayova, said in February he had no choice but to move his animals from Karibib to Okahandja for better grazing due to the prevailing drought in the Erongo Region.

But he explained that he brought the animals back to Karibib two months ago after making a plan to supplement their feeding.

"I got a small hectare plot that I got from the Karibib municipality, and I'm grateful for that, so what I did there was I actually planted crops, mostly Lucerne, and that one was to assist me whenever I'm mixing fodder and so on rather than just buying directly from Agra whatever you want to feed them. So I have some mealies, I have Lucerne, and I have beans, so once I actually got all those things, I at least have some sizable stockpile that you add to whatever products you are buying from Agra. That's how we have been keeping ourselves alive."

Another stud breeder, Frans Kandundu, said farmers must not always blame climate change when they can make provisions for a resilient enterprise.

"If I say that the drought has me, I will be lying because we made measures to control the drought a little bit bearable. We kept a few cans untouched until a certain amount of time, we reduced the animals, we cleared the land, and most of the farmers don't see the importance of the licks, but that's what we are pushing; we give licks to small stock and cattle, and it really helps, so I will urge all the farmers to look into licks because most of us are still in the old system where we don't really believe in licks."

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, said Sebulon Ganinab, introduced programmes to help farmers manage the impact of drought.

"During the drought, there are some Lucerne, there is grass, there is Molazi meal, and there is Molazi syrup that GRN supplies directly from the agriculture development centres, and those farmers that are not much vulnerable have got a choice of buying from the formal outlets like Agra, and then they can claim, so the government comforts them also in this way. When we analyse and evaluate the situation, only 40% of farmers have information reached and 60% have not. And that is something that tells us that somewhere somehow, we have to do more so that the information can reach them all." 

During the good season, the farmers said they put money aside for rainy days and avoid spending their profits on non-farming-related expenses.