Bush encroachment is the increase of woody plants that result in a loss of grazing capacity of a given area hence it causes considerable productivity losses for both communal and commercial farmers. This phenomenon of bush thickening post a tough competition to grass species, reduce underground water, reduce access to other parts of the rangeland.
The problem of bush encroachment has affected about 30 million hectares of rangeland that led to reduction of carrying capacity of the land; hence the situation forced farmers to reduce their livestock, and as a result, there a reduction on farm jobs.
The project of De-bushing (bush thinning) is aiming to assist farming communities in addressing the problem of bush encroachment through awareness creation on carrying capacity, bush thinning and value chain of the de-bushed wood materials of the Namibian encroacher bush. Bush thinning/De-bushing is helping the farming communities to reverse the negative effects caused by bush encroachment into gain.