By Indileni Iipinge
OKAU KAMASHESHE – Unless Namibia reforms its 2007 agricultural subsidy programme it will continue handing out food when dry conditions persist.
The agricultural subsidy programme subsidises communal farmers’ production inputs such as seeds, fertiliser, ploughing and weeding and considers the provision of free seeds, fertilisers and ploughing services especially for the impoverished maize growers in the rural areas. It we do not reform this programme we will carry on handing out foods when drought and unpredictable rains strike again.
We will also continue to depend on cross-border trade for our food consumption and the success of our National Development Plan (NDP4) and Vision 2030 will be in jeopardy.
Successful subsidy programmes have been implemented within the SADC region and Namibia can draw examples from them.
Even developed countries like the United States of America hands out billions of dollars in cash subsidies to farmers every year
Before the rainy season we should start praying that government will distribute free seed and fertilisers to food-insecure households as we face the worst drought in thirty years.
President Hifikepunye Pohamba had in May this year declared a state of emergency and over 300 000 Namibians mainly in the rural areas were food insecure. Crop production was expected to decrease by almost 50 percent due to the lack of rain.
However, if the rural masses are given free seed, free fertilisers and free ploughing services this coming season, the nation could bounce back with increased production and even create bumper harvests with surplus grain to send abroad and cater for future drought conditions.
In fact fellow SADC member states have successfully implemented subsidy programmes.
In 2004, when the late Bingu wa Mutharika was elected as president of Malawi his country was hard hit by drought. The bright late son of the African soil introduced the Farm Input
Subsidy Programme (FISP) to boost national food security and the productivity of smallholder farmers after some years of drought delivered reduced harvests. The programme distributes free inputs (hybrid seeds and fertiliser) to food-insecure and poor households. The local media in Malawi has reported that this programme has helped Malawi meet its national food needs and resulted in bumper harvests with huge surplus which were exported to neighbouring nations that were in need of food.
Like Malawi, Zambia also has the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) subsidy under which farmers are still receiving a 10kg bag of seed for free and buy fertiliser at half the market prices.
They too have experienced bumper harvests.
These are a few published African success stories and Namibia can learn a lot from it.
Failure to emulate or simply provide full subsidy means Namibia will continue importing food from the above mentioned countries where agriculture is more subsidised in order to meet its national needs for many years despite the large amount of available farming land.
Moreover, with about sixteen years to go before the year 2030, the increased investment in farm input subsidy could help the nation achieve its Vision 2030 objectives of a modernised and well managed agricultural sector that gives high incomes and food security at household and national levels, and helps to achieve sustainable growth of our economy.
More so, the NDP4, which runs from 2012 to 2017, expects the agricultural production to be increased and result in agriculture obtaining average real growth of 4 percent per annum.
Various strategies have already been implemented to increase the targeted growth that include the continued promotion of the green scheme, and setting up of agricultural fresh produce hubs, silos and research stations.
Green Schemes alone cannot fill up the silos or fresh hubs storage. About half of Namibians live in rural areas and can indeed contribute to the national production provided they get free inputs.
Thereforem free seeds, fertilizer, ploughing and weeding services to the poor rural farmers could be a move towards lessening drought effects, increased production and becoming a food secure nation.
• Indileni Iipinge is an upcoming farmer at Okau Kamasheshe village.