Rangeland management
facilitated by the Enhanced Smallholder Livestock Investment Program(E-SLIP) is
an intervention that is gradually but successfully being adopted in Namwala by
smallholder livestock farmers.
This intervention has been
enhanced with the positive influence of one renowned man in the community –
Chief Mukobela.
“The people in my area are
very sceptical about adopting new things. The first time E-SLIP came with their
rangeland management interventions, my people rejected them. But after they saw
what I did on my farm, they opened up to the concept,” he said.
Chief Mukobela - Wesley
Shabongwe Mukobela - is a visionary when it comes to livestock farming. His
personal farm sits on 10 hectares of land. In addition to his growing herd of
cattle and goats, his farm also hosts a growing banana plantation, an orchard
of a variety of fruit trees and a large lawn of pasture grass that has been the
foundation of his farm.
“The soil on this farm we
are standing on was very poor. So for 2 consecutive years prior to my
cultivation, I cultivated velvet beans to improve the soils; and when I saw the
results, that is when I knew that I should encourage my people to participate
in rangeland management,” Chief Mukobela.
He added that when he
decided to move his farm to where it currently is, many other farmers had
rejected the piece of land due to its poor soil. So on the soil of his
struggling banana plantation, he took a chance, and planted some velvet bean
seed and some nappier grass, that E-SLIP had supported Baambwe rangeland.
Within a few years, he observed that his banana plantation began to thrive; and
it was then that he knew that there was need to compel his community to welcome
the over sowing of rangelands in the district.
His farm is within Baambwe
rangeland. With support from E-SLIP, Baambwe Rangeland Committee received 400kg
velvet beans and 1,000 trees to over sow in their rangeland. Furthermore, over the
years beginning from 2020, the Program also empowered the communities in the
rangelands with trainings in how to establish and maintain a seed nursery supplemented
with: velvet bean seed, sunhemp, bana grass, Nappier grass
as well as perennial tree seedlings namely acacia, gliricidia and leucaena.
The nurseries are a sustainable measure to ensure that communities always have
seed readily available to over sow in the rangelands every year. Chief Mukobela
is an active participant in this annual exercise.
“To protect this
intervention, certain areas of this [Baambwe] rangeland are restricted from
around November to May to allow the area to rejuvenate,” the Chief said.
Given his traditional
authority this enforcement comes easily for him to implement.
Chief Mukobela’s influence
over his community’s attitude towards sustainable rangeland management is an
asset to E-SLIP interventions in his area. He has chosen to lead from the front
by providing exemplary demonstration for his community to learn from. Using his
influence as a traditional leader to encourage his community to be proactive in
addressing climate change effects in Namwala has been a game changer in
catalyzing efforts to revamp rangelands in Namwala.
