Aron Mushaukwa
Katima Mulilo-The Zambezi Vocational Training Centre (ZVTC) has received agricultural training equipment worth N$2.8 million. The equipment purchased by the German government in line with its existing agreement with the Namibian government to support vocational training centres, was handed over by the Namibian Training Authority (NTA) recently.
Similar equipment was handed over at Rundu Vocational Training Centre (RVTC) and will be used by the students for their practical training in the agriculture sector.
Speaking at the handover of the equipment at Katima Mulilo, NTA board member Gilbert Likando said NTA plans to develop the two vocational training centres under its umbrella.
He said the Kavango East and Zambezi regions face similar unemployment challenges, “which is averaging at about 29 percent unemployment, and you will also agree that agriculture is the main employer in these two regions, with about 70 percent of the rural production” involved in the sector.
He said with this in mind there is a need and potential for further growth in the agricultural sector in these two regions, which have arable land and are rich in water resources.
“It makes perfect ssense that strategically it is important that we position this project in these regions and the resources into these VTCs to offer high quality and industry-related training to young people to empower them with the skills needed to add further value to the agricultural sector,” he said.
A representative from the German government, Christoph Heil, said the equipment would help students involved in agriculture with relevant skills needed in the sector.
“We are very confident that job attachment experienced at the site is inevitable, and it is a must for every learner to become competent at the end. So, in this particular training scheme we will look forward to have learners attached to green schemes and commercial farms to use the experience that they have learned here at the workshop site,” Heil said.
At the same occasion, a groundbreaking ceremony where the offices for the agricultural trainees will be constructed, was officiated. The new offices – which will include among others an admin block, a classroom block, a greenhouse and a workshop block – will be constructed by students at the centre.
The construction of the offices is set to cost the NTA about N$3.2 million.