WINDHOEK – A total of 4 981 disadvantaged and landless Namibians from various regions have benefited from the national resettlement programme since independence. The majority of people were resettled in the Omaheke Region followed by the Kunene Region.
Contrary to some media reports, the Minister of Lands and Resettlement Alpheus !Naruseb said, the figure is testimony that the resettlement programme is not a failure.
!Naruseb told parliament on Thursday that a total of N$768.50 million has so far been spent on the land acquisition and development programme in which 345 farms covering two million hectares were acquired.
In an effort to boost support to this programme, !Naruseb said the ministry entered into an agreement and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Agricultural Bank of Namibia regarding the provision of a Post-Settlement Support Fund. “At least N$30 million has been set aside by the government to provide loans to resettled farmers under this fund,” he explained.
The minister said a resettlement audit was undertaken to determine the uptake, ownership and infrastructure on most of the resettlement farms. However, the audit did not determine the impact of the programme on the economy and how the resettled farmers have benefitted from the programme.
“Government has identified the need to carry out a study on the impact of the resettlement programme. With no study we are unable to tell if resettlement farms contribute significantly to national agricultural production,” !Naruseb said. But an impact is clear in that the ministry has resettled 4 981 beneficiaries on 2.4 million hectares of farmland, he added.
He told fellow lawmakers the ministry has also set up a fund of N$30 million through the Agricultural Bank of Namibia to assist resettlement farmers to purchase farming infrastructure and equipment to enable them to farm productively, as well as to provide advisory services to help transform resettled farmers into commercial farming oriented individuals.
However, limited budgetary allocations to purchase all available land and the quality of land offered are two of the challenges the ministry is grappling with. “The price of land has increased to such an extent that N$50 million will only purchase less than five farms per annum. Most of the farms offered to the government are the ones with the most difficult terrain, low rainfall and bush-encroached with very little farm infrastructure such that the ministry has to invest a lot of money to bring such farms into production. Generally most [offered] farms end up being waived as they are found unsuitable for resettlement,” the minister further explained.
He said 50 percent of those resettled depend on farming for their livelihood, adding the programme has placed communities and families who were previously farming in corridors on land, and the landless now have a place to farm and a home.
Responding to concerns that the majority of resettled farmers lease out land to the former owner/s for grazing in order for them to generate some income, !Naruseb said the subleasing of resettlement farms is provided for under the Agricultural Land Reform Act. He stressed that it is not illegal for farmers to lease out portions of farming units when it is done in terms of the Act, as long as they have applied to the minister mentioning the name of the proposed sub-lessee.
!Naruseb said subleasing is allowed because resettled people are often poor and have no source of income and the land is the only valuable asset they have. It is then used as an empowerment tool and to have a source of income for an approved duration.
!Naruseb was responding to questions by RDP MP Jesaya Nyamu on resettlement and how it has benefited the landless and previously disadvantaged so far.
By Tonateni Shidhudhu