Vice chairperson of the National Council, Victoria Kauma has called on stakeholders to put in place the necessary mechanism for strengthening food security through resource mobilisation and support for the Ogongo Unam campus in the Omusati region.
During her visit to the northern agriculture campus on Monday, Kauma said Ogongo is one of the country’s solutions to food security.
Although the campus was mainly established for hands-on training of agriculture students, Kauma believes it can be expanded into a commercial enterprise.
“The availability of food as one of the basic human necessities
is a fundamental human right,
hence the need to develop a mechanism for structured and sustainable agricultural production through this campus,” she said.
Kauma further stressed the
need to support communities involved in agriculture with improved equipment and implements.
“My visit on the campus made me realise that as a government, we have to do more on investing in the country’s food security,” she said.
Kauma also affirmed the commitment and support of the government at ensuring sustainable food security in the country and called on financial institutions to contribute to the success of the campus.
“We have the resources, we only need to empower our people to take up more of these opportunities in the agriculture sector,” she said.
She added that some of the challenges hampering the growth of the campus is the lack of financial support for students.
“We are going to engage the ministry of higher education about the funding of these students through NSFAF, for them to cater to at least more students because we have some students who are at home doing nothing because they were not able to be funded. How do we get a solution to unemployment if we have more young people at home due to lack of funds?” she questioned.
Kuama is of the stance that no student, regardless of their study programme, should be limited from getting financial assistance from NSFAF. “Those studying for diplomas, bachelors, or whatever programme should be funded.
I believe this will be the best way of attracting more students into the agriculture field,” she
said.
Campus director Christopher Mberema said the youth need to take up opportunities in agriculture to revive the economy.
He noted that over the years, there has been an increase in agriculture students, of which the majority are women.
“We have a total of about 350 students and the majority are women and it is a good thing to see that many people have an interest in agriculture fields and that is contributing to the progression of our campus,” he said.
Kauma’s visit was part of her annual outreach programme in the northern regions. The programme started on 18 July and will end on 30 July.