Windhoek
Government’s ‘very reactive planning system’, pertaining to agriculture and water supply, last week came under fire from various fronts when the Namibian National Farmers Union (NNFU) hosted a Drought Dialogue with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Windhoek.
Shooting from the hip, Dr Mutjinde Katjiua, an agricultural expert from the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), said government knew before independence 26 years ago that water is one of Namibia’s most scarce resources. “Yet we have done very little to conserve water or expand town development where we have enough water,” he said.
He says it is common knowledge that 70 percent of the population relies on agriculture. “Yet we do very little to reduce the dependence on subsistence farming,” he noted.
Describing government’s crop farming practices as “doomsday practices”, Katjiua said that government knew from the mid-1990s that the croplands in north-central Namibia and grazing lands in most communal livestock production areas are used unsustainably.
“We have abundant sunshine, but solar energy generation is in its infancy in Namibia. We can and must do more and on a bigger scale,” he urged.
Raising his concerns about government’s drought policy and strategy and especially its Drought Fund, NNFU president Tobias Emvula said there is a strong feeling in the Namibian society that government is not implementing the policy and strategy to its fullest.
“There is also a very strong sentiment in society that government is very reactive to drought impact, rather than pro-active, knowing full well that Namibia is a drought-prone country. There are indications that the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry will have to review the drought policy and strategy this year,” he noted.
In his address, the vice-president of the NNFU, Ramana Mutjavikua, stressed some of the challenges and constraints facing farmers, saying the early warning system is not decentralized, thus does not assist farmers timeously, while drought mitigation strategies such as the on-farm risk management system are not fully implemented.
He said that marketing incentives are not decentralized and crop producing subsistence farmers are not benefitting during droughts, as drought incentives go into the pockets of those who have access to resources and can afford transport and land to rent. “There is limited support for farmers in the northern communal areas,” he said.
Farmers, stakeholders, public policy makers and role players in the agricultural sector attended the dialogue, where various issues around the drought spells were unpacked and discussed.
The dialogue focused on analyzing the effects of the droughts of 2013 to 2015, with emphasis on financial impact on farmers. It also noted and discussed the policy provisions and government responses to food and distribution, incentives for farmers, and mitigation strategies and concerns of farmers.
The dialogue then listened to proposals for the improvement on responses to drought, which will be resented in a policy review document.