By: Frans Sinengela.
Jesaja Shipingana (41) from Windhoek’s Goreangab informal settlement says horticulture is the answer to hunger in informal settlements and the country as a whole.
Shipingana says he started his horticulture project in the Otjomuise area.
“I planted vegetables such as spinach, green pepper, cabbages and tomatoes, just to mention a few,” he said.
Shipingana says he donated some of his produce to six orphanages around Windhoek.
“Not only orphanages but needy people around me,” he added.
However, a sad moment in his life came when the landowners informed him that they needed to use the land for other purposes.
“Since we agreed at the beginning that I was just temporally on the land, I cannot say what they did is bad,” he said.
Shipingana did not give up, he now has started from scratch at his Goreangab home, and his backyard garden is promising.
Shipingana further said that he approached various institutions such as the City of Windhoek and the ministry of land, and the ministry of Agriculture, respectively, for assistance but to no avail.
Shipingana called on all institutions of high learning to respect indigenous knowledge and not only rely on modern theories, which in most cases are not practical.
According to him, indigenous knowledge is both practical and productive and must be given a chance.
” I use both indigenous and modern knowledge in my horticulture project,” he said.
