Ryno van der Merwe, the former President of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), together with four other persons were appointed by the former Miniater of Lands and Resettlement, Alpheus !Naruseb as members of the Lands Tribunal.
The main function of the Lands Tribunal is mainly to give finality about the price of a farm if the seller and government cannot agree. Another member of the NAU, Ms Clara Bohitile is also appointed on the Tribunal.
On behalf of the President and Executive Council of the NAU we would like to congratulate van der Merwe on this position and wish him strength with the activities of the Tribunal.
Predator problem will be attended to
The Executive Manager of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), Sakkie Coetzee, and the Executive Council representative of the Namibia Professional Huntners Association (NAPHA), Frank Heger, discussed the predator problem with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, who was assisted by senior personnel, on Tuesday, March 17.
Jackals and caracals in the sheep-producing areas, and especially leopards and cheetahs in the beef-producing areas cause big losses to stock farmers and millions of N$ are lost annually due to this problem.
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism acknowledges that the conservation of certain predators might lead to problems, but that the matter is also very sensitive and must thus be handled very discreetly. One of the big problems currently is that there is little information about the real losses which are suffered due to predators.
It has been agreed that a meeting of all role players will be held under the leadership of Mr Sikopo, a Director in the Ministry of Environment in order to discuss further steps on how to address this problem. As a first step producers together with NAPHA and the relevant ministries, namely Agriculture and Lands will attend such a first meeting.
Master Agronomist Day
The Master Agronomist Day will be held on April 9, 2015 at the Master Agronomist, Rusty Kleinhans’ Project Farm Sikondo outside Rundu. The theme is “Weed control through conservancy agronomy”. The day starts with the APA member meeting at 08:30 and there after the Master Agronomist Day will be held. Speakers are include Andre Nel of the Agricultural Research Board in South Africa who will talk about the development and research of conservany agronomy. Another speaker is Derek Matthews, a farmer from Sannieshof in South Africa. He switched from conventional agronomy to conservancy agronomy as he wanted to keep the moisture in the soil and to control weeds. In order to motivate members to attend the day and save costs, the APA decided to (2 vehicles with more than 2 people) per region (GTO, Hochfeld/Summerdown and Mariental) subsidise the km to Rundu at the NAU tariff. More information will be given at a later stage and you can contact Rina Hough at the NAU office, Tel 061 237838, joc@agrinamibia.com.na.
Agra ProVision training course
Agra ProVision is presenting a training course on: “Managing rangeland utilisation in years with below average rainfall”. The training course comes at the right time to prepare farmers for the anticipated drought. The training will be conducted in the following towns: Windhoek – Evening lectures, 17 – 26 March 2015; Windhoek – Day lectures, 07 – 10 April 2015; Otjiwarongo – Day lectures, 20 – 23 April 2015; Grootfontein – Day lectures, 05 – 08 May 2015 and Gobabis – Day lectures, 18 – 22 May 2015. Evening lectures start from 17:30 – 20:30, while day lectures start from 08:00 – 17:00. The costs are N$1 000 per person per course and should you be interested in this course, kindly request for the course application form from Twaku Kayofa @ 061 290 9364 or twakuk@agra.com.na or SMS the word “Training”, your name and email to 40404.
Meatco Inter Farmers Association Braai Competition
Hochfeld FA is hosting the annual Meatco Inter Farmers Association braai competition on March 27 and 28 at the Namboer Auction pens, Hochfeld. The theme is “1935” as the Hochfeld FA was founded in 1935. Registration is N$750 per team. For further details contact Caleen Swanepoel, 062 549101, 081 242778, hiway@iway.na. For more details and to print the registration form, Click here
FA and other news
Otjiwarongo FA is holding its Annual General Meeting today at 09:00 at the NG Church hall, Otjiwarongo. For further details contact Callie Steenkamp, Tel 081 3326292, tilla@iway.na.
Feedmaster and the Waterberg Plato Wild Telers are hosting an information day on April 1 at 09:00 at the Otjiwa Game Ranch, Otjiwarongo. Speakers are Dr Kenneth Botha, Dr Johan Kriek and Jaco Labuschagne and Christo du Plessis of Feedmaster. After lunch Dawie Oosthuizen of Safari Den will give practical demonstration of guns. More information is availbale from Charmaine Kruger, Tel 061 218713, ckruger@feedmaster.com.na. For further details contact Christo du Plessis,Tel 061 218718, Dawid Krause, Tel 061 2909308 or W P Barnard, Tel 081 1480171.
Gobabis RAU is offering courses on April 9 from 09:00 – 17:00 at the Kalahari Cenvention Centre, Gobabis: NamLITS online where inter alia movement permits, herd statements and 90/40 verifications will be discussed. The other course is the LTR2 – Livestock Traceability Register software. The software is available on the website www.flexpro-tech.com/download Livestock Traceablity Register 2 and this will also be available on the memory stick atthe course. The costs are N$160 per person which includes refreshments and lunch. Participants are requested to bring along a labtop or other type computers to download the software and also an extension cord and extra two three-point plugs. For further details and to register, please contact Willem Boshoff, Tel 062 565056, 081 2411740, gslu@iway.na.
Osire-Waterberg FA is holding a meeting on April 14 at 14:00 at the FA hall. Gero Bajorat of DIS Engineering will talk about the import of power into the national network and a speaker will talk about farm safety. For further details contact Anka Visher, Tel 067 306208, hpvisher@iway.na.
The van Rooy Breeders Association of Namibia is offering a Junior and Senior course at the Agra Auction Pens, Otjiwarongo on April 14 and 15. For further details contact Francois Janse van Rensburg, Tel 081 1293553 or Carina Vermeulen, Tel 061 252994.
The Gobabis Shooting Day will be held on April 18 at 07:15 at Gobabis. Bow shooting, 100m grouping shooting, catapult and .22 shooting will be offered. Exhibitors are welcome and refreshments are offered. For further details contact Rudi, Tel 081 2753939.
The Meatmaster Association of Namibia is offering a Junior and Senior Meatmaster course at Gellap Ost near Keetmanshoop on April 29 and 30. The course is offered by the well-known Meatmaster breeders Clynton Collett, Mario du Preez, Jean du Plessis, Dennis & Jo Steenkamp, Johnny Morrison en P W van Heerden. For further information, contact Malinda Steyn, Tel 063 269002, 081 3332873, saamstaan@hotmailo.com. The logistic arrangements will be announced at a later stage.
The Meatmaster Association of Namibia is hosting their Annual General Meeting on April 29 at 17:00 at Gellap Ost. For further details contact Malinda Steyn, Tel 063 269002, 081 3332873, saamstaan@hotmail.com