The European Union yesterday handed over 10 vehicles to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, valued at N$6.5 million.

These vehicles will be used as part of the Programme for Communal Land Development (PCLD), supported jointly by KfW Development Bank, the European Union and the government of Namibia, through the ministry of agriculture and land reform. 

EU ambassador to Namibia, Sinikka Antila described the handover as an “important milestone”.

The PCLD’s overall objective is “improving the landbased livelihoods of rural communities through the development of communal land and their better integration into the mainstream economy’’. 

“I am informed that these vehicles will be used to further support the mapping and verification of communal land rights in the different regions of Namibia, to fast-track security of tenure for more than 70% of subsistence farmers living on communal land to obtain their rights to land,” Antila said. 

“I am very happy and proud to stand here, because the results of the Programme for Communal Land Development cannot be overemphasised. I have not been to the field myself to see the developments on the ground, but the good progress is contained in the annual progress reports, while some of my colleagues have verified them physically,’’ she noted.

The EU ambassador indicated that she has studied the most recent PCLD progress report. “While we have good progress on many of the results, we are currently at 148 190 of Communal Land Registration of the final target 245 000 that we have set to achieve. This presents a backlog of 96 810 communal land parcels that we still need to register, and I have realised that the progress on this front has been very slow in recent years. I am assuming that this is mostly due to the unavailability of vehicles, and hence acquiring these 10 vehicles is very crucial for this exercise,” she said.

Land reform minister Calle Schlettwein, when receiving the vehicles, said they will be used in key activities geared towards the implementation of the five result areas of the PCLD programme.

“In order for us as the ministry to administer and manage land effectively and reach out to our people living in the different parts of the country, we need to be mobile and the donated vehicles will enable us to visit all the priority areas as we endeavour to serve the people of Namibia with honour and dignity,” he said.  

Schlettwein assured the development partners their gesture will go a long way in contributing towards the benefits of the Namibian communities and the future generations with a productive incentive that is more valuable to the implementation of communal land reforms in Namibia.