WINDHOEK, March 14 — Grafting is the most common practice for the propagation of fruit trees worldwide and a 28-year-old Namibian youth has taken it upon himself to use this technique to bring about a green culture in Namibia, one of the driest places in the world.
Over the past three years, Allan has been in the business of grafting fruit trees and vegetables for sale, as well as supplying trees in the fruiting stage to an ever-insatiable market, which he described as “untapped.”
“Here in Windhoek (Namibian capital), there is one particular place — nursery which supplies plants. This place is always overwhelmed and can not meet up the demand, hence I ventured into the field and started desert green farming,” he told Xinhua.
Allan said he discovered that grafting is the most common practice for the propagation of fruit trees and has been an important tool for improving agriculture and horticulture. The technique can be traced back 4,000 years to ancient China.
Through such practices, Allan has been able to create fruit trees that are quite popular in the small southwestern African nation that heavily depends on imports.
Namibia currently imports processed horticultural (fruits and vegetables) products valued at approximately 1.5 billion Namibian dollars (about 82 million U.S. dollars) yearly and only exports processed fruits and vegetable products valued at approximately 3.5 million Namibia dollars, according to the country’s statistics agency.
“I decided to venture into grafting as I saw a niche, untapped market, considering Namibia is arid desert, the trees and the whole green sectors remain untapped, hence the heavy reliance on imports,” he said.
According to him, grafting is an environmentally friendly, efficient, rapid, and integrative reciprocal process and he sees it as important for its contribution to national food production and food security.
“The idea behind grafting is to minimize the time frame of fruit production. What you should realize is that a tree that is not grafted takes up to 6 to 7 years, and in some circumstances, they get up to 12 years before bearing fruit,” he said, adding that grafted plants take from 1 to 2 years to bear fruits.
Allan currently supplies plants that include guava, blackberry, cashew nut, lemon, bell peppers, granadilla, and olive trees amongst others, to his ever-growing clientele. “Sometimes I can have up to 10 clients a day requesting various plants.”
Amid the grafting of plants, Allan currently conducts workshops for farmers and community members.
“We provide workshops, be they tailored or regular ones, paying or free ones. We host teaching people how to graft, teach them tree maintenance, the uses of trees in combatting climate change, the types and varieties of trees, and the types of vegetables we also supply,” he said.
According to Allan, the aim and vision of the workshops are not only to benefit the farmers but also people in less privileged communities by enriching them with the necessary knowledge to open up their nurseries or venture into the green business.
“Through our workshops, the most beneficial thing is that farmers are getting the knowledge for large-scale production, meaning to say Namibia can and will be fruit and vegetable independent,” he said.
Namibia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land reform spokesperson, Jona Musheko, acknowledged the impact climate change has on food production.
“Grafting is one way to speed up the period from planting to fruition, which is key to fighting the impacts of climate change on food (fruit) production. Climate change is associated with increased temperatures and consequently increases evaporation. This means more rain/water is needed, consistently, to irrigate plants for more years till they reach the stage of fruition. But when there’s grafting involved, it reduces the time a farmer has to wait before his fruit trees yield fruit,” he told Xinhua.
“So grafting that’s done procedurally is highly encouraged. The same applies to utilizing quality seedlings and seeds for fruit trees and crops,” he added.
Allan, meanwhile, said his main vision is to see Namibia “turn green” through various branches he would like to set up in major towns, out of the capital city, around the north and southern regions across the country. (Xinhua)
