Namibia country report

At Drimiopsis and Skoonheid, harvesting of natural resources complemented agriculturalproduction to a very limited extent. The natural resources were used primarily for ownconsumption and a very limited amount could be sold locally.Beneficiaries gathered veldkos (field food) seasonally to supplement their diet. However, theresettlement lands were said to be too small to supply adequate amounts of veldkos for allcommunity members, so families sometimes had to search for it beyond the borders of theresettlement land. Veldkos was most abundant during the rainy season, but was harvestedonly after the rains, from around July, and it lasted only until August.The foods gathered included marimba nuts, boesman komkommer (‘bushman cucumber’),wild potatoes and berries. Even if abundant, not all of these natural products could be sold.Traditionally, the sale of wild potatoes and boesman komkommer was prohibited, whereasmarimba nuts and berries could be sold, the main market being at the Roman CatholicMission at Epukiro.Karolina explained that marimba nuts in particular were very much sought after. The oldpeople would crush the nuts, boil the mulch and scoop off the fat, the taste of which is saidto be as good as beef fat. Herero people tend to buy this fat whenever it is available. However,at the time of the field visit, the practice of producing fat from marimba nuts had largelystopped in the Drimiopsis area due to declining availability there.Kamagu or devil’s claw was also harvested at Drimiopsis, mostly for own medicinal use.Beneficiaries were promised that somebody would go to the project to providing training onharvesting devil’s claw sustainably for commercial purposes. This was already happeningin other parts of Omaheke.In the absence of electricity at both Skoonheid and Drimiopsis, beneficiaries dependedon firewood for cooking, lighting and heating purposes. The task of collecting firewoodwas usually assigned to women. At Drimiopsis it was mentioned that the search for firewoodrequired walking longer distances today than in the early 1990s when the scheme started.Some beneficiaries at Skoonheid who owned dogs used them to hunt rabbits and smallantelope such as steenbok and warthogs, in spite of their fear of being caught by the police. Afew beneficiaries hunted snakes or tortoises to eat.6.3.1.4 Grazing land for multi-purpose livestock productionAccess to group resettlement land gave beneficiaries grazing for their livestock. However,because few beneficiaries owned livestock, pastures were underutilised at Drimiopsis andBernafey. At Skoonheid the situation was different because the group resettlement schemeoccupies only a portion of the farm. Grazing on the scheme portion was underutilisedat the time of the field visit only because the beneficiaries did not own sufficient livestock.The remainder of Skoonheid had been allocated to 11 individual livestock farmers on atemporary basis. They utilised 3-4 camps each for grazing and some rainfed cultivation.Livelihoods after Section Land Reform: B ● 6. Group Namibia Resettlement country report Schemes (2010) ● 149