FARM RIMINI – A dream that started eight years ago is beginning to bear fruits and has catapulted former Cabinet minister Richard Kamwi to the status of being one of the premier black maize producers in the country.
Farming on Farm Rimini, some 80km outside Otavi, in the area famously known as the ‘Maize Triangle’, Kamwi has been a busy man since leaving public life, turning his attention and resources squarely on agriculture. He says values of food production and self-sustenance were imbued in him by his role models, “mom and dad”, who despite their limited formal education, never went to bed hungry, for they toiled the soil to provide for their children.
Today, Kamwi’s agricultural adventure is one to be emulated, if attaining food security on a national level is anything to go by.
Not only is he talking the talk, but also he is also walking the talk and has rolled his sleeves up where he and his workers are getting their hands dirty, toiling the land.
He says unlike other politicians who struggle making ends meet as soon as the benefits that come with public office run dry, he always had an exit strategy beyond political office.
Added to this exit plan is Kamwi’s solid education. As a malariologist, Kamwi is the E8 ambassador. E8 is an eight-country coordinated effort intended to eliminate malaria in at least four southern African countries by 2020. The southern African E8 member states that want to eliminate malaria by 2020 are Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. He produces maize and rears cattle on a sprawling, piece of virgin land that cost N$8 million, excluding interest, acquired through an Agribank loan. He also has a sizable number of goats on the farm.
Kamwi also breeds the Bonsmara, a cattle breed known for high-quality beef and disease resistance.
Due to his hands-on approach, he has been able to pay off about 65% of his Agribank loan.
Exit strategy
Recently, New Era visited the farm to see first-hand what the malariologist has been up to since leaving the public limelight, glitz and glamour that come with being a minister and a senior figure within the ruling party.
“How did I come to politics? I was invited to it by the Founding President [Sam Nujoma] at the time that I was doing my research, in fact, somewhere else in Calueque, when I was called, you know, So I did not just come into politics for a living. Absolutely not,” he said.
For him, politics was never a career but a platform to serve his nation based on his skills and expertise. “But by contrast, some of the politicians, when they go there [public office], for them, it is a profession and when they are out for one or the other reason, unfortunately that’s what others would deem its cold outside of politics. But in the case of yours truly, it had never been cold. And I can tell you to this end, I’m still receiving invitations,” he said, shortly after addressing an international virtual meeting from Farm Rimini.
Looking back at how far he has come, Kamwi recalls an interview wherein he was asked, “what is next for Dr Kamwi?”, as he was on his way out of politics.
“And then I said to him [Kazembire Zemburuka], well, I’m going back to the roots. Which roots? I said, I’m going to do what my fallen hero and heroine, that’s mom and dad, had been doing,” Kamwi recalls.
He was referring to his late father Kamwi Nchabi, as well as his late mother Nsala Sikunyana, who instilled values of farming in him while he was growing up in the former Caprivi region. He has not looked back since.
“You will never go wrong with agriculture. So, to be brief with my answer, I have been doing well, and many people that I meet ask me what the magic is, and I tell them, well, I’m working,” he said with a chuckle.
He had some advice for the current crop of politicians, some of whom will not return to their ministerial portfolios, let alone Parliament, beyond 21 March 2025.
“People will respect you by all means if you are an expert, if you are well read in that you are disciplined, you are hard at work, you are full of initiative, you want to see Namibia prosper. There is no reason why you should be voted out,” he advised.
But there is a flip side, he hastened to say, as in politics, even the best brains are sidelined for political reasons.
“It’s also unfortunate now to see, you know, in politics again, it’s not about who you are [competence]. In terms of service delivery, if that was to be the case, I would still be a minister,” said Kamwi, who found himself diametrically opposed to the dominant ‘Team Harambee’ at the watershed Swapo congress in 2017.
“Why? During those other conferences, my name was always in the top five, right? I used to be in the top five, but that year 2017, I recall becoming number 101. Why? It is because I differed with the powers that be and that is politics. I did not associate myself with those who were in power at that point in time,” he stated.
Farmer
At the moment, Kamwi spends about 65% of his time on the farm, while the remaining 35% is split across other equally taxing commitments, both personal and professional.
“I came here eight years ago. This is my ninth year. And the first thing that I did here was to purchase cattle. There was nothing here, nothing other than that old thing [pointing to a farmhouse]. So, I started building,” Kamwi said.
Today, the farm boasts two state of the art farm houses, one of which is Kamwi’s residence on the farm, employee houses and a maize production plant, among others.
“The cattle have been breeding well from a total number of 25 that I bought then, it’s around 600 as a round figure and we are selling anything around 150 to 180 depending on the season and as a result, back to my parents in Zambezi, we were ploughing, producing maize and as I said then, I decided to go back to my roots,” Kamwi said.
Soon, two maize storage silos will be erected on the farm, also through Agribank financing. White maize, which Kamwi produces, is exclusively produced in Namibia for human consumption and is one of Namibia’s staple grains and a controlled product.
The major grain produced in other parts of the world is yellow maize [corn] produced exclusively for animal feed.
“If you look on the eastern part of this field, we have well over 250 hectares [for maize production], and on the west we have something like 50. And [over] the past three to four years, the harvest was good, so much so that I decided to go for a value addition that led us to consider purchasing one milling machine and producing a special sifted maize meal,” the politician-turned-farmer said.
Best practices
Kamwi had always farmed as a communal farmer in the Zambezi region, north of the notorious veterinary cordon fence [red line].
However, he has not shied away from learning from his neighbours or attending agriculture capacity building seminars.
Kamwi currently has 14 employees in total, eight of whom work for the miller while six work on the farm, dealing with the cattle.
“Depending on the harvest, we do have around 18, well, up to 25 men and women who come during the harvesting to play that role. So basically, having been a former PLAN combatant, I think I have been making a humble contribution,” he said.
Prioritise agriculture
With about 70% of Namibians surviving directly or indirectly from agriculture, Kamwi said the sector’s role cannot be overemphasised.
“It’s so important. In Namibia, knowing our climatic conditions, the rains do not look quite positive and the drought is imminent, according to some projections. So how do you achieve the element of food security in the country, which we’ve been preaching since time immemorial?” he wanted to know.
To achieve food security, he said the government should prioritise agriculture funding in order to employ more agriculture technicians and invest more in water supply.
Market penetration
When Kamwi joined the maize market some eight years ago, it was mainly dominated by white farmers.
He also realised that the sale of maize to big manufacturers was extremely low.
“I also took note that maize production is dominated by the other group. Do you understand my language? We fought to liberate this country, right, and not to solely depend on others, especially this other group,” he said, stressing that Namibia cannot continue to depend on the select few previously advantaged individuals.
“I felt the need to get into this market, to get into this industry, and I realised we can do more, I can do more,” he said.
Being one of the premier maize producers, Kamwi supplies maize to the government’s drought relief programme, food bank initiative and also sells commercially.
The commercial arm of Kamwi’s farm is called ‘Vuche Vuche’, which loosely translates to, slowly but surely.
At present, they have several warehouses in the northern part of the country, where maize is stored for that market.
“[Our warehouses] are open to the general public with very competitive prices. I can tell you, our maize in the whole northern part of the country, including here where we are, is by far the lowest. We are having our own milling machine and having our own truck,” he delved into some of their operations.
Reform
From a strategic or policy perspective, the former Cabinet minister proposed some reforms for the agriculture sector, particularly on the resettlement programme.
“I think the government tried its best in terms of this resettlement policy. We see people being resettled,” he said.
He, however, doubts if the government is doing enough as far as post-resettlement assessment is concerned.
“I doubt whether the government has done an assessment to see where they are resettling people is producing. I think for me, based on this experience [eight years], the main challenge is lack of expertise,” he pointed out. Announcing the record N$100 billion 2024-2025 financial year budget this week, finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi announced the allocation of N$1.9 billion to agriculture and land reform.
“This includes N$50 million dedicated
for land purchase to address the plight of generational farm workers as well as N$87 million for the improvement of animal health and marketing in communal areas. Provisions have also been made for improving food systems as well as the green scheme programme including Phase II of the Neckartal Dam Irrigation Project, among others,” Shiimi said. On the water front, Shiimi allocated a further N$2.2 billion, including N$1.1 billion in loan funded projects, a significant increase from the previous year ceiling.
“The beneficiary projects include the refurbishment of the Oshakati and Rundu water treatment plants as well as the development of the 2nd Ohangwena aquifer well field. In addition, funding has been availed for drilling of boreholes, expansion of pipelines and various rural water supply projects to improve access to water within communities, especially considering the increased drought incidences,” he said, further buttressing the government’s commitment to water provision.
– emumbuu@nepc.com.na