By Josef Kefas Sheehama
Innovation, creativity and agility need to be cherished and celebrated. The Mayor of Outjo, His Worship Bappelo initiated a community garden project with the aim of putting food security for informal settlement residents. Well done His Worship.
The National Development Plans (NDPs), the Harambee Prosperity Plans (HPPs) and Vision 2030 are our future, make it work, as Namibian`s development lodestar and roadmap. The critical interventions towards Vision 2030 such as stimulating the economy, raising investment and employment levels, especially youth employment, strengthening the capacity of the state and strengthening partnerships. It goes to the heart of Namibia’s major challenges of poverty and inequality which, together with unemployment, are identified in the National Development Plans as the triple challenge that is to be overcome by 2030. The importance of vibrant and robust agriculture is reminiscent of its role in providing employment opportunities for the teeming population, eradicating poverty and contributing to the growth of the economy. Agriculture plays a critical role in transforming the economy to reach the goal, along with achieving other essential development goals like ensuring food security and improving nutrition. Therefore, in order to end hunger and undernutrition while accelerating economic growth, agricultural transformation must become a reality.
This is a humble beginning. All you need to do is just beginning. Start somewhere, take a step in the right direction and try. As Namibians, it is our duty to play our role in the betterment of our society. Everyone differs from others and has different abilities. There are different circumstances we are living. Everyone has to play a different role. This is a unique initiative to address issues highlighted in the NDPs such as unemployment and poverty. Therefore, let’s support His Worship Bappelo and his team to enable other regions to emulate his perfect example. Creating good jobs for the poor will have a much larger effect on inequality and poverty. The social impact of reforms currently envisaged by authorities to boost growth would be significantly amplified with reforms to equip the poor to reap growth opportunities through the acquisition of skills. In doing so, the social compact would be further strengthened, with a likely positive impact on investment.
Agriculture plays an important role in the process of economic development and can contribute significantly to household food security. The developmental role of agriculture has long been recognized. Namibia imported over N$100 million worth of maize from South Africa and Zambia beginning in 2022. This is not making good reading. We cannot point fingers or blame someone. We are the culprits. We cannot blame the government. We must blame ourselves. We failed as a nation and we need to wake up. As a leading sector of most economies, agriculture helps facilitate industrial growth and structural economic transformation. Agriculture plays a multi-dimensional role in the development process, which includes eliciting economic growth, generating employment opportunities, contributing to value chains, reducing poverty, lowering income disparities, ensuring food security, delivering environmental services and providing foreign exchange earnings, among others. Due to the neglect of this sector, development progress has been hindered. Most young people would shun a career in agriculture. The crisis in Ukraine is having an unprecedented impact on food security worldwide not only because Ukrainian and Russian produce a considerable percentage of global wheat and grain, but also due to disruptions in transport lines, markets and food production internationally. Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Increases Food Insecurity in Africa. The Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that as many as 13 million more people worldwide will be pushed into food insecurity as a result of Russia’s invasion of 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, the seed of wheat, maize, roasted, malt, sunflower seed and oil, margarine, prepared foods, bulgar wheat, sweet biscuits and all types of juices and water. Little attention is vested on 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 are concerned do not invest in these things soon, we as a nation will be labelled as the begging nation.
It is worth noting that His Worship Bappelo will ensure that food security is prioritized in the Outjo district before selling surplus to other regions. His Worship Bappelo asserted that the local communities must not be deprived of the benefits from, either for creating employment amongst other things. Therefore, we must ensure that a country that is not able to feed itself does not sell off land to produce food for exports when it is asking for food aid. A community gardening program can reduce food insecurity, improve dietary intake and strengthen family relationships. Investment in agriculture is key for economic growth and job creation. Decision-makers must position agriculture more deliberately as a sector that could contribute to economic growth and job creation.
To this end, we salute you, His Worship Bappelo. In addition to this, such an effort would stimulate the performance of other notable sectors like manufacturing and solid mineral. The focus should still be on the agricultural sector as the last resort to the lingering Namibia unemployment crisis and increase food security.
Therefore, economic inclusion and poverty reduction require support from smallholder and family farmers who represent most of the poor in Namibia. At the same time, supporting those farmers and enhancing their productivity and their linkage to markets can lead to increased food production and improved food and nutrition security.
We have to hold the hands of our farmers.
