Lease out green schemes, !Gawaxab urges
Bank of Namibia governor Johannes !Gawaxab says government should lease out its green scheme operations, adding that it is not deriving the necessary benefits from the current arrangements.
He made the comments following a question-and-answer session after the central bank’s announcement of the repo rate.
The bank had made visits to the Kavango East and West regions to study the commercial viability of the green schemes, he said.
“We did some work and we actually recommended [that] it’s not working the way it is currently, the way it is owned by government alone. The capital is an issue, morale is an issue... It’s not sustainable,” he said.
In its assessment, the central bank recommended that government find different models to run the green schemes.
“We need to look at a different model and one of them is to probably look at a partnership with the private sector,” !Gawaxab said.
Recommendations
Government had last year decided to gradually wind up the Agricultural Business Development Agency, which is the custodian of its green schemes.
Cabinet approved the outsourcing of the green schemes to private operators in line with the second phase of the Harambee Prosperity Plan.
The projects earmarked to be offered to the private sector include the Katima/Liselo and Zone green schemes as well as the yet-to-be developed Neckartal green scheme, a report noted.
Among recommendations made to Cabinet was that the lease agreements provide for 25% shareholding by small-scale farmers operating from farm units at such schemes and that the operator build the requisite capacity of the small-scale farmers to progressively increase their shares in farm business to 100% by the end of the lease agreement. This, to enable them to take over the full management of the entire scheme on expiry of the operator’s contract.
A recommendation also forwarded was that government-owned green schemes should be operated and managed as separate business entities with tailor-made business plans to be developed by a private sector entity who will be chosen to lease the scheme, coupled with a dedicated steering committee to oversee the management of each scheme.
The lease would be paid over to communal land boards.
The recommendations further outlined that an audit of all green schemes should be conducted.
He made the comments following a question-and-answer session after the central bank’s announcement of the repo rate.
The bank had made visits to the Kavango East and West regions to study the commercial viability of the green schemes, he said.
“We did some work and we actually recommended [that] it’s not working the way it is currently, the way it is owned by government alone. The capital is an issue, morale is an issue... It’s not sustainable,” he said.
In its assessment, the central bank recommended that government find different models to run the green schemes.
“We need to look at a different model and one of them is to probably look at a partnership with the private sector,” !Gawaxab said.
Recommendations
Government had last year decided to gradually wind up the Agricultural Business Development Agency, which is the custodian of its green schemes.
Cabinet approved the outsourcing of the green schemes to private operators in line with the second phase of the Harambee Prosperity Plan.
The projects earmarked to be offered to the private sector include the Katima/Liselo and Zone green schemes as well as the yet-to-be developed Neckartal green scheme, a report noted.
Among recommendations made to Cabinet was that the lease agreements provide for 25% shareholding by small-scale farmers operating from farm units at such schemes and that the operator build the requisite capacity of the small-scale farmers to progressively increase their shares in farm business to 100% by the end of the lease agreement. This, to enable them to take over the full management of the entire scheme on expiry of the operator’s contract.
A recommendation also forwarded was that government-owned green schemes should be operated and managed as separate business entities with tailor-made business plans to be developed by a private sector entity who will be chosen to lease the scheme, coupled with a dedicated steering committee to oversee the management of each scheme.
The lease would be paid over to communal land boards.
The recommendations further outlined that an audit of all green schemes should be conducted.
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