ONGWEDIVA - Namibian National Farmers Union (NNFU) president, Jason Emvula, has cautioned government against turning all the constituencies into towns, as it will compromise food security in the country in future.

Speaking to New Era in an interview on Wednesday Emvula said at the pace at which villages are being turned into towns, there will be no land available for agriculture for future generations.

The NNFU president said he is not against development, however, rural development should incorporate agriculture so that the citizenry can continue to produce food and thereby fight food insecurity collectively.
“It is a fact that by 2050 the world population will hit 10 billion. This is an indication that if we do [not] encourage agriculture, food security will be tempered with because the land we have available today will be taken by local authorities,” said Emvula.

He said developing rural areas without turning them into complete towns would also further curb the influx of people, particularly the young people to the already overcrowded towns.

Emvula’s sentiments echo those of the youth, who have repeatedly requested government to develop constituencies to curb urban migration.

Chairperson of the Regional Youth Forum in Oshana, Absalom Itamalo, at a recent Town Hall Meeting with President Hage Geingob, made the same remarks and requested government to put up information centres at the constituencies.

He said there is high migration of young people to towns because there is a lack of information in the rural setup.

In the same vein, Emvula called on government to put up strong regulation measures against alcohol.
According to Emvula, Namibians consume so much alcohol that even if the country receives good rains some people will continue to demand for drought relief because they are unproductive.

“We need to kill the dependency syndrome hence we need government to promulgate laws that will allow, particularly the farmers to be productive in agriculture,” said Emvula.