OMUTSEGWONDJABA: The Ondonga Traditional Authority (OTA)’s spokesperson, Enkali Frans, has expressed delight over an increase in the volunteers for cultivating on the OTA’s crop field.

This year, OTA received 420 volunteers compared to 320 they received in 2023.

Frans said this in an interview with Nampa on Saturday after he was informed that 420 people came to cultivate at the OTA community’s field in Omutsegwondjaba village in Omuthiya Constituency of the Oshikoto region.

He said that the authority wishes to be self-reliant and promote food security in the country.

‘As we have experienced over the years, we want to produce enough food to sort out hunger in the country. We strongly want to produce our food and restore food security in the country,’ said Frans.

He further said they want to harvest enough tons of maize on the 33.3 hectares crop field, so that they can help society tomorrow when food is in short supply. Frans also urged the community to work in their fields so they can produce enough food
for themselves and reduce themselves from depending too much on the drought relief food.

‘We should not be victims of the drought [and depend on the] Drought Relief Food Programme. Let us work for ourselves and prove that we can feed ourselves,’ he added.

OTA crop field manager, Jerry Kambala, expressed excitement over the huge number of people who came to help in the field. Kambala said that it is the first time they are receiving a huge number of people cultivating after the field was established in 2021.

‘We are very happy that the people came voluntarily, which shows us that they still respect our culture,’ said Kambala.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency