The agriculture ministry’s extension officer based in the Hardap region, Fabian Boys, has encouraged the region’s communal and resettlement farmers to embrace government-subsidised support services to boost agricultural growth. 

Speaking to NBC News, Boys highlighted the Namibia Agricultural Mechanisation and Seed Improvement Project (NAMSIP), and urged the region’s small-scale farmers to take full advantage of the project. 

NAMSIP focuses on agricultural mechanisation, livestock and seed improvement in efforts to stimulate high-quality production. 

“At this stage, we are still busy with the demonstration stages, so this equipment will be loaned out to farmers, so the farmer will get it from the ministry, use it for three, four or five days, or basically a week.

They will then return the equipment to the office, and the next farmer will also have access to the very same equipment. So, there will be a very minimal amount for this equipment to make it affordable to all small-scale farmers,” he stated.

The government, through the NAMSIP project, aims to upscale agricultural production. 

“With this, we look at household food security and also, on a bigger scale, at national food security so that these farmers can basically contribute to the food basket of Namibia as a whole,” he said.

Co-funded by the African Development Bank through a loan, the NAMSIP project comprises two components ,namely agricultural mechanisms, and the certified seed system’s improvement. 

Boys said the Hardap and //Kharas regions for now will only benefit from equipment as the seed improvement component applies to regions currently having crop production in place. 

-NBC News