Namibia still desperately needs to improve agricultural production systems and tackle the threats of climate change and uncertainty. The GDP from agriculture in Namibia increased to 2794.70 USD million in the second quarter of 2022 from 1049.30 USD million in the first quarter of 2022, as per the Namibia Statistics Agency.
Namibia is a country where rural households depend heavily on agriculture, and where farming systems are highly sensitive to volatile climatic conditions. The development in Namibia is guided by the Vision 2030 initiative, the Fifth National Development Plan, the zero-hunger strategic review and the Harambee Prosperity Plan, which all recognise the importance of food and nutrition security, and support the Zero Hunger initiative in contributing to Namibia’s drive to achieve Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17. Russia’s military operation in Ukraine increases food insecurity in Africa. The Food and Agricultural Organisation estimates that as many as 13 million more people worldwide will be pushed into food insecurity as a result of Russia’s operation in Ukraine. With Ukrainian supplies cut off, food prices are on the rise across Africa. The food Namibia imports includes various categories of vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes, apples, tea, spices, seed of wheat, maize, malt, sunflower seed and oil, margarine, prepared foods, bulgur wheat, sweet biscuits and all types of juices and water. Little attention is vested in communal farmers and their indigenous knowledge of food production. The Zambezi and the two Kavango regions are by far the best options as hubs for food security in Namibia. This whole dependence on South Africa and other countries for everything, especially food, is going to cost us a lot. If our own people, government and whosoever is concerned does not invest in these things soon, we as a nation will be labelled as a begging nation.
Therefore, given that agriculture is the leader in our country, the resilience of farming systems in adapting to climate change is crucial. The improvements in farm production systems also provide a major mitigation source by increasing carbon stocks in terrestrial systems, and reducing emissions by increasing efficiency. At the same time, more needs to be done to increase rural living standards, reduce regional income differentials, and lower the rate of rural-urban migration, while concomitantly increasing agricultural production and enhancing Namibia’s food and nutrition security. The government of Namibia should implement a rural development strategy, with focus on large modern farms and family farming. The effective implementation of NDP5 and HPP2 will strengthen Namibia’s position in agriculture. To make this shift, regulatory reforms which define the principles of public investment lay out a framework for attracting private investment to the agricultural sector while enhancing access to finance, and enhance responsiveness.
Furthermore, considering agriculture’s importance to the overall economy, there are challenges that need to be addressed urgently to unleash its full potential. One such challenge is agricultural marketing and trade. In Namibia, only UNAM’s Neudamm and Ogongo campuses have a dedicated department for agricultural marketing, and a lot more focus is needed by academia and researchers. Training at the Neudamm and Ogongo campuses focuses on agriculture, management of natural resources, and environmental science. The downward trend in enrolment in agricultural courses poses a serious concern to the agriculture sector, which is responsible for supporting the country’s growing demand for food security. Agriculture is one sector that can really turn things around in this country, but the government seems to be paying only lip service to it.
The government can create a new awareness about the potential of this sector and its diverse opportunities. There should be a re-orientation programme, where youths will be taught to see agriculture as a business that can create agro-billionaires. The greater freedom of world trade will mean that it is important to stay competitive. Efficiency and productivity will be of utmost importance. The agricultural economist must, therefore, train people in the most economical use of production factors. The government should play a big role in reforms at UNAM’s Neudamm and Ogongo campuses. Hence, the government must invest heavily in agriculture so that we can harness the huge resources in the sector.
Furthermore, without reforms at the Neudamm and Ogongo campuses, we cannot talk about competitiveness in agriculture. A major challenge confronting the agricultural community is how to develop policies and strategies that will help previously disadvantaged farmers to benefit from the more liberalised, deregulated market for agricultural products. Much of the research effort on the part of agricultural economists working for the Neudamm and Ogongo campuses focused on identifying the needs of this new, emerging group of farmers, and developing support programmes for credit, production inputs and marketing processes for these farmers. One of the traditional tasks of the agricultural economist is to provide farmers with economic and financial advice.
Furthermore, the agricultural economists guide the farmers as to which would be the most advantageous combination of different production factors in his operation so as to be able to produce at the lowest possible costs. This will and should always be one of the most important tasks of agricultural economists. They must also be aware of which product might hold the best advantages, and where and how it should be marketed. The expertise of the agricultural economist will become more and more important to assist emerging farmers to become successful, given the large number of new entrants into the commercial agricultural sector as a result of the land reform processes. They will play a major role in feasibility studies of projects and the programmes of developing farmers, and this area poses significant challenges to agricultural economists.
Moreover, the maintenance and strengthening of food security means that farm production systems need to adapt to increase productivity, and ultimately lower output volatility in the face of important weather events. Production systems need to become more robust, better able to perform well in the face of vital stressful conditions and farming accidents, and to sustain farms and revenue. Greater production and resilience in agriculture require a transformation in natural resources’ management. Moving to those systems could also lead, by increasing carbon sinks, to significant mitigation benefits and reduction in emissions per unit of agricultural products. Furthermore, to address the current economic crisis and make the economy viable again, we must do everything constitutionally possible to destroy corruption because even if the economy is buoyant and there is still corruption, we will go back into crisis again.
It is important that we tackle corruption at all levels, and take everyone along. Additionally, we also need to diversify the economy. We have to balance things in terms of our foreign reserves, and that will happen if we diversify the economy and go back to agriculture, and take a more serious look at the mineral resources’ sector. Farmers, agribusinesses and financiers cannot achieve success without keeping up with international agricultural trends. The truth is that many of today’s policies and regulatory frameworks are an obstacle for Radical Economic Transformation. The dream of Namibia’s economic emancipation can’t be deferred any longer. The commercial and communal farmers have to join hands to assist each other in farming challenges. Therefore, we cannot afford to replicate the inequalities and injustices that continue condemning the 1896 Redline Radical Economic Transformation. The sooner we redefine communal set-ups in terms of their benefits and strengths to livestock farmers as opposed to their weakness, the better our farmers will become.
In conclusion, a resilient agriculture that eliminates hunger, provides development opportunities, and maintains the supply of natural capital and a diversity of ecosystem services, is a basic condition for the persistence and prosperity of human society. Achieving this goal will require developing an agriculture that is persistent, adaptive and transformative.
Therefore, we have many successes in stabilising agriculture in the short-term, and in building efficiency. However, this very success has interfered with our ability to allow agricultural systems to adapt to the rising rate of environmental change, and to be transformed when needs and opportunities arise.
There will be costs to allowing transformation, and maintaining a resilient agriculture. But these will be compensated by the capacity to maintain human well-being in the long run. We need young talented people because of the challenges we face in the agriculture sector with regards to climate change, to be able to feed people efficiently and safely.