KALIMBEZA – Kalimbeza Rice Project manager Patrick Kompeli said for the farm to succeed, it requires adequate funding to procure equipment and machinery.
He said this on Monday during President Nangolo Mbumba’s visit to the project.
On Independence Day, Mbumba announced that the government would allocate N$8 million towards the rice project.
However, Kompeli told Mbumba that the allocated money is still with the agriculture ministry, as they still want to rectify some defects on the farm.
“The project still has no proper machinery and equipment for rice cultivation such as walking tractors, rice transplanters, sowing lines, soil crushers and a completely new rice processing machine,” Kompeli moaned.
Mbumba, who toured the planted fields, said “What we need is rice to eat”.
The ailing project only has four functional tractors.
He said they received a new rice combine harvester.
The farm has two vehicles, one of which has been broken over two years without repairs.
He said despite the challenges the farm faces, they transplanted about 33 hectares of Irga rice, which is a short rice variety.
They plan to plant about 50 hectares (ha) of land with both Angola, Supa, and Irga rice varieties this season.
The total area under production is 229 ha, of which 150 ha is irrigable land, leaving 79 ha of non-productive area.
Some of the rectifications include carrying out some feasibility studies on the topography, land survey, design of the field, tender documentation and contract supervision for the construction of the dykes.
Others include the drainage system, field levelling, access roads and upgrading of the pump station to be done to help mitigate the effects of seasonal floods.
The rice project, which is envisaged to become the major rice producer, contributing towards food security in Namibia, has over the years yielded little to poor rice plantations.
The farm faces an inadequate supply of water from the pump station, which is small.
“Rice has a high-plant-water requirement of 10milimetres per day,” Compeli said.