Creating opportunities for new farmers

How a mother and son duo is using biomass to continue their family farming dream

Remodelling of tenure rights and redistribution of land, using a willing buyer and willing seller method and benefiting the landless and the previously disadvantaged, is what the Namibian Government Resettlement Programme is about. Johanna Intamba and her husband were eager to become farmers and began searching. Says Johanna, “We had been looking for a piece of land from the Government Resettlement Programme, but could not get one.” Eventually they found a farm they could rent, and which would become available to buy in the near future. Then, just as their dreams were falling into place, tragedy struck as Johanna’s husband passed away in the same year the farm became available to purchase. Johanna, however, decided to continue with her and her husband’s shared dream in her own capacity. “I bought the farm with a loan from Agribank and registered it in my name. But from there I had to start paying Agribank back.”

Johanna’s farm is close to Grootfontein, in the Otjozondjupa Region of central Namibia. “I’m a cattle farmer, and I’ve been a cattle farmer since 2012. In 2019 we lost about 70 cattle due to drought. There was no rain and then corona also started. My son is the one who introduced me to charcoal,” says Johanna, who adds that they might have had difficulty repaying their loans without their charcoal business during these difficult times.

Johanna’s son Matti and his charcoal production

Johanna’s son, Matti Intamba, explains: “I was a student when my dad passed away. So I made a decision to leave my studies and go to the farm. In the beginning, I used Google to find out what to do on the farm, and then I started visiting and talking to my neighbours. I found out what type of projects they are doing, since we have a similar type of soil. The majority of them were talking about charcoal.”

“That’s when I approached my mom and said, ‘I think we need to do this.’ This was in 2016, and slowly but surely I started with a few drums. I struggled in the beginning and my mom said that if I quit school, I have to help with the expenses. After we got our first income (from the charcoal), I invested it back into more drums. More drums, more equipment for workers, more housing. It’s now five years later.”

Matti explains that in the beginning of their charcoal venture, the main purpose was income. “Initially I wasn’t actually going to start during the time of the drought. It was Frank Detering at Carbo Namibia who told me that there had been a bad frost on my farm in 2014, and a lot of the trees there are actually dead wood. So I brought in some experts who confirmed there is a lot of dead wood there.”

Finding markets for their product

Johanna and Matti decided to join the Carbo Namibia Group Scheme. This meant that they had a local buyer for their product. Johanna explains, “When I started to export, it was a challenge. Even the payment was a challenge. Now we are with Carbo and it’s just the best. Local is better, and everything runs smoothly, there is no problem.”

Joining the Carbo Namibia Group Scheme also meant that Johanna and Matti had to become Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. This means that as producers, Johanna and Matti would ensure they harvest in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner and also that they would practice good social responsibility in providing their workers with healthy working and living conditions.

According to Johanna, there are a lot of regulations and it is important to comply with them. “You need houses for the workers, you need toilets and showers for the workers, you need first aid kits and lots of things like that. But I think it is a good thing. It might cost money, but it is a good idea. Since I’ve become FSC certified, I am no longer struggling to find a buyer for my charcoal. So it’s really a good thing to become FSC certified.”

Adds Matti, “The workers see the commitment, and as long as you are transparent with them, you’ll have happy workers.”

The workers see the commitment, and as long as you are transparent with them, you’ll have happy workers.

Plans for the future

Johanna works in public service and plans to join Matti full time on the farm in the next three years. As Johanna explains, “Matti is the manager on the farm, and we are planning to expand. I am hoping to do some horticulture in the future.”

According to Johanna, they are still learning as they go. “What I have seen is that I have accomplished quite a lot compared to when I started. I have done a lot and learnt a lot. I have also learnt where I made mistakes and I am still learning. When I started here I was not even thinking about charcoal, or firewood, or clearing a piece of land for vegetables. But things start to grow and you never know where it will go.”

Matti, too, has many plans for the future of their farm, including new biomass ventures. “The purpose of the bush thinning is to create enough space and currently it is still very thick. So it will be a couple more years before we are done. Then I have more plans. We have lots of marula trees on our farm and I have been meeting with the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) to discuss marula production. You use everything from the peel to the juices and they extract oil from the nuts for cosmetic reasons.”

This mother and son duo are a shining example of the power of working together to advance the community where you live. As Matti explains, “If I compare with the other years, when there was nothing, I am happy. Now we have different projects going on and at the same time we are creating employment.”

Kirsty Watermeyer