RUNDU – Shadikongoro government irrigation project is about to reap what it sowed. According to its manager Daniel Marais the project expects to soon harvest about 3 500 tonnes of maize that they planted on January 23.
The envisaged harvest will include the harvest from the small-scale farmers at the project. Shadikongoro irrigation project is located at Shadikongoro village in Mukwe Constituency, Kavango East.
Shadikongoro farms on 390 hectares of which 90 hectares (ha) is for small-scale farmers and 300 hectares is for the commercial part of the farm. At the moment the entire farm is planted with maize.
But on the commercial part only 270ha were planted and 30ha are unplanted because the centre pivot broke down at a critical time of planting so that area missed out on being planted, but for the small-scale farmers the entire 90a is planted.
On Monday Agribusdev managing director Petrus Uugwanga toured the project together with the Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB) CEO, Fidelis Mwazi, and NAB chairperson Michael Iyambo.
“The reason why we are here with the colleagues from the agronomic board (NAB) is to say that due to the cash flow problems through government , NAB assisted us in terms of giving us funds that we used for this production. The funds were not given in cash, they basically gave us a N$10 million guarantee that we used to get inputs on credit from suppliers – for Shadikongoro, Ndonga Linena, Uvungu-Vungu, Mashare and Sikondo plus Etunda green scheme projects,” Uugwanga noted.
Uugwanga’s tour with NAB started on Monday in Kavango East at Shadikongoro and Ndonga Linena irrigation projects and yesterday they visited Uvungu-Vungu and Mashare still in Kavango East and Sikondo project in Kavango West. And they will complete their visit at Etunda in Omusati Region.
“The main objective is for them (NAB) to come and assess the production to see whether their guarantee is at risk or not. It’s part of accountability, as you know the main thing this year is accountability, so we have to account for the resources given to us. But in our own opinion as Agribusdev we have done what we could reasonably do, and so far, we are above the minimum that we planned to achieve,” Uugwanga added.