OKASHANA - Director of Land Reform in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform (MAWLR) Petrus Nangolo has called on farmers on resettled land to be productive to avoid it being withdrawn.
He made the call during a regional consultative meeting to review the resettlement criteria under the resettlement policy of 2023 to 2033 at the Okashana rural development centre in the Oshikoto region.
He said the ministry has observed that some farmers have been unproductive on land allocated to them by the ministry.
“They will be given a fair chance to be productive, and upon failure to do so, the ministry will withdraw the land and give it to other Namibians willing to be productive,” Nangolo warned. He said the primary objective is to ensure that these farmers are to produce their own food, contribute to the country’s gross domestic product, and create employment, which can only be done if they are productive on the land allocated to them.
“We are trying to address food security in this country. We want Namibia to produce sufficient food for its people, and to also export to the market. Therefore, if there is no activity taking place on the farms, they should be relinquished voluntarily so that they can be used productively,” Nangolo said.
Mangeti Farmers’ Association (MFA) secretary Philip Mwandingi said there are those fortunate to have been allocated farms, but are using them for residential purposes and are not utilising them while there are thousands out in the streets, willing to work. So, the ministry is doing well by chasing the lazy ones out. The main goal of the resettlement criteria policy is to ensure that the land acquired is fairly and equitably allocated and sustainably utilised to improve the quality of life of the beneficiaries.
The policy targets to resettle previously disadvantaged Namibians who do not own or otherwise have the use of agricultural land or adequate agricultural land, and foremost are those Namibians who have been disadvantaged by past discriminatory laws and practices.
- Nampa