Lameck does it again

Despite the drought-stricken situation facing Namibia, Anna-Nora Lameck (67), a farmer from Uupili village in the Ohangwena Region, has once again defied the odds by achieving her goal of a bumper harvest of mahangu.For over a decade, Lameck, a former Namdeb employee, has achieved success on her piece of land, where she settled in 1992.Namibian Sun, which has been reporting on Lameck’s success for years, visited her farm last week and found she was in the process of threshing her mahangu the traditional way.While many farmers have turned to modern ways of threshing mahangu with a machine, Lameck has opted to continue doing it the traditional way, where the mahangu is processed by beating the crops with sticks.Creating jobsEach year, she pays wages to young men from the community to assist her with her enterprise.“The machine is faster, but it can damage your grains, and furthermore, the guys you are seeing threshing the crops are getting paid for it and with that money they can go and buy food for their families or attend to their other needs. I believe in empowering people in my community,” she said.Regarding this year&#039;s harvest, Lameck said that while it was not her usual bumper harvest, she nevertheless managed to collect tonnes of mahangu from her field.Asked how she manages to succeed each year despite often unfavourable weather conditions, Lameck said that she takes advantage of the rain.“What I do is that when the first rains come, I don’t hesitate and start immediately to work on my field. I see that is the mistake most farmers make; they wait for the good rains, which might take time,” she explained.“Also, there comes a time when the rain has stopped – I still don’t give up, as long as the soil is wet, I do something, and it is that simple. The rain is unpredictable; hence, you must take those risks, and for years I have been fortunate to succeed.”Feeding the nationLameck sells her produce to locals and the government through the Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA).She said her efforts bring her joy and happiness when she is able to feed the nation.“Sometimes when I see people getting bags of mahangu as drought relief, I smile with pride and tell myself, the mahangu from my field is in those bags,” she said with a smile on her face.Lameck said it pains her when she drives around her community during the rainy season and sees that people have not worked their fields.She believes that, while necessary, the drought relief programme partly contributes to laziness among community members who want to live off handouts.“Drought relief is necessary when the country is faced with such a situation like this year, but if people are at cuca shops during the time they are expected to work their land but they are considered for drought relief because others who tried and did not make it are being catered for, I don’t think it’s the best way to deal with the situation,” she said.Government has budgeted over N$820 million towards the drought relief programme in response to the current situation in Namibia. No excuse not to be successful Meanwhile, Lameck emphasised that agriculture is the most important sector in the country, and if well managed, people should not go to bed hungry.“To me, agriculture is number one on the list; the other sectors are secondary. This is an important sector, as it affects us all. The more we import food, the more money leaves our country and helps build the agriculture sectors in those countries, but if we produce our own food, we will keep the money in our country and develop our agriculture sector,” she explained.She believes Namibia has ample land for agriculture, adding that there is no excuse why Namibia cannotLooking ahead, in addition to crop farming, Lameck has ventured into poultry and other livestock enterprises. She raises a variety of chicken breeds, many of which are rare in the northern parts of the country. Lameck also keeps cows, goats, sheep and pigs, with the goal of expanding her livestock farming.

Lameck does it again

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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Lameck does it again

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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