By Lylie Happiness,
Oshakati, 04 Nov. – The Minister of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, Calle Schlettwein, official opened the Tsumeb Copper Festival 2022 which started on Thursday and will end on Saturday.
The town is aiming at becoming the cleanest Namibia and it is “Wiring Namibia Towards Industrial innovation” as the theme of the festival proclaims.
Schlettwein said hosting of the Copper Festival here and now must not disguise the economic potential of the Tsumeb, Grootfontein/Otavi Triangle as this is one of the zones with high comparative advantage whose competitiveness must be realized.
The presence of all these endowments renders the triangle a magnate for increased domestic and foreign direct investment in the real and services sectors and a potential growth pole in the national industrialization agenda.
“The triangle should reclaim its position as the breadbasket for the country, through intensive agriculture and horticulture, with a mix of staple foods and high-value crops year- round, high quality livestock and fodder production and more direct and indirect jobs,” he said.
Increasing agro-processing value chains could be potentially realized here, given the critical mass productive capacity and availability of logistics services, said the minister.
He urged all agro and livestock producers as well as horticulturalists across the Tsumeb/ Grootfontein and Otavi (maize) Triangle to rise to the occasion in contributing to national food self-sufficiency objectives.
“These are among the most productive areas in the country and should not lie fallow. I call on the financiers to fund the bankable agribusiness opportunities in the sector and in the Triangle economy in particular.
“The country yearns for increased food and nutrition self-sufficiency, quality growth that generates jobs and greater resilience to shocks posed by climate and external adverse developments,” the minister said.
