Farmers involvement in farmer-based organization and perceived challenges: a case of Oshikoto region, Namibia

Abstract

Farmer-based organisations (FBOs) are formed in the communal farming communities, mostly by Agricultural Support Services (ASS) providers with the aim that rural communities will become sustainable and manage their own community development activities. However, too often these FBOs do not receive sufficient support and training from the ASS providers and do not advance from being mere participants to being self-reliant as organisations so that they can make their own decisions as a group. This paper will analyse farmer participation and involvement in FBOs and the challenges faced by FBOs. Using a random sampling technique, data were collected from 150 farmers from six constituencies in the Oshikoto region. The findings showed that only 65 out of 150 respondents belonged to an FBO. There were slightly more female respondents (52.3%) than male respondents (47.7%). Most FBO respondents participated at the constituency level (64.6%), while 44.6% participated at the village level. Only 12.3% participated at the regional level, while none participated at the national level. Eighty per cent (80%) of the respondents indicated that their main objective for joining the FBO was to obtain technical skills. However, 83.1% of the FBOs experienced the problem of members not attending meetings and 78.5% indicated that members do not pay registration fees and annual fees. The researcher concluded that the FBOs in the Oshikoto region need continuous training in various courses such as group dynamics, communication skills, and soft skills to run their FBOs successfully