Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723
Download: www.vti.bund.de/en/startseite/vti-publications/landbauforschung-special-issues.html
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Tackling the challenges of organic livestock production in Namibia
with the help of Holistic Management
JUDITH ISELE 1 , FRANZ EKKEHARD KÜLBS 2
1 Namibian Organic Association, Namibia, www.noa.org; Namibia Centre for Holistic Management,
Namibia, e-Mail: standards@noa.org.na; iselkuel@iway.na.
2 In memory of my beloved husband whose life, passion and successes are reflected in this paper.
Key words: sustainable rangeland management, extensive livestock farming, adapted cattle and
sheep, Holistic Management, Namibia
Introduction
The organic livestock sector in Namibia is still in its nascent stages: up to now only two cattle and
no small stock farms are certified by the Namibian Organic Association. Natural circumstances
favour extensive livestock farming on the basis of free range grazing on native pasture. The majority
of the agricultural land in the semiarid country receives average yearly rainfalls of 150-500 mm
forming the base of marginal savannahs. Between 8-30 hectares are needed to supply year-round
fodder for one large stock unit (LSU). Even when conventionally managed, these free range conditions
naturally allow animal husbandry that is closer to organic ideals than most European farming
systems ever achieve.
In such a resource deficient environment (deficient in terms of biomass growth) the adaptability of
livestock to their specific circumstances is of utmost importance (Idel, 2006). On Namibia’s extensively
managed commercial farms (between 3,000 and 20,000 hectares) the natural environment
differs greatly, even between two neighbouring farms. (Barrow, Binding and Smith, 2010). This
emphasizes the importance of location-adapted animals.
When it comes to organic livestock production, in such rangeland based system it is not about animal
husbandry only. Being uniquely able to convert plant material into animal produce, ruminants
are simultaneously ‘gardeners of their own food’. Animals, the plants they eat and the soil in which
these grow, are irrevocably linked and interdependent. None of them can be in a healthy state without
the other one flourishing just as well. Therefore sound management of rangelands (soils included!)
needs to get as much attention as the wellbeing of the animals. (Idel, 2011; Volkmann, 2011)
The example of Farm Springbockvley is used to showcase the typical Namibian circumstances of
livestock farming on the one hand and to distinguish between those and more sustainable managed
farms on the other hand. In addition, the challenges and constraints of converting to organic agriculture
are demonstrated.
With an average yearly rainfall of 260 mm, Springbockvley is situated in an area of average production
capacity which supplies appropriate fodder for cattle and sheep alike. Since 1990 the farm is
managed according to the Holistic Management decision making framework (Savory with Butterfield,
1999). This generally includes a high level of awareness for sustainable use of resources
and improvement of bio-diversity at the same time managing toward profitability and the wellbeing
of the people involved. Therefore, farms run according to Holistic Management principles and
procedures ‘present themselves well for the conversion to organic production’ (Barrow, Binding
and Smith, 2010). This also applies to Springbockvley: with its highly efficient, low input approach
and well adapted indigenous animals that require almost no external inputs, the farm is ideally set
up for organic production.