The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), in partnership with Agra, presented its first one-week Practical Farming training course for farm workers last week.

A total of 22 farm workers attended the course at the CCF headquarters outside Otjiwarongo. Aimed at improving the farm worker’s understanding of farming production principles and systems as well as providing hands-on practical training, this course is geared to include people often left out of the training process due to literacy limitations, said Mr. Gunther Roeber, who designed the course. In addition to tackling topics such as cattle husbandry, herd and pasture management, vaccination programmes and animal health, conservation training on the role and value of predators, predator kill identification and conflict resolution were also dealt with.

In addition to funding, Agra provided product support for the practical training sessions. According to Ms. Birgit Hoffmann, Agra’s Marketing Manager, the partnership established between Agra and CCF fulfils the missions of both organisations to develop capacity in Namibia’s agricultural sector. Farm workers form an integral part of any successful functioning farming operation; as such, it is critical that they become efficient and effective team players in the farming team and community.

Bonnie Schumann, course coordinator at CCF, said ‘the group worked extremely hard, and were very motivated to learn and participate. Feedback from the group has been extremely positive and we have already set dates for the next course, which will be run in September.’

The Cheetah Conservation Fund is a Namibian non-profit trust dedicated to the long-term survival of the cheetah and its ecosystems.

·Since 1990, the organisation has developed education and conservation programmes based on its bio-medical cheetah research studies, published scientific research papers and has presented educational programmes over 120 000 outreach school learners, donated over 230 Anatolian livestock guarding dogs to commercial and communal farmers as part of the CCF innovative non-lethal livestock management programme, and has established a cheetah genome resource bank of cheetah sperm, tissue and blood samples.

·Research into cheetah biology and ecology has greatly increased our understanding of the fastest land animal and education programmes for schools and the farming community help change public attitudes to allow predator and humans to co-exist. However, despite the many successes of CCF programmes, the cheetah is still Africa’s most endangered big cat.

·Namibia CCF contact address:

PO Box 1755, Otjiwarongo

Tel (in Namibia): (067) 306225

Tel (international): (264-67) 306225

Fax: (067) 306247