Resettlement farms unoccupied for years

Many farms acquired through the government’s resettlement programme lie idle and unallocated to beneficiaries for as long as five years, a National Council investigation found.This is due to a lack of adequate monitoring and evaluation of the resettlement process, a Standing Committee on Agriculture, the Environment and Natural Resources report read. The committee also found that many beneficiaries of the resettlement programme do not receive sufficient support to farm productively due to a shortage of human resources. A serious cause for concern is the resettlement criteria point system, which does not accurately determine the most suitable and skilled beneficiaries. This is largely because the criteria can easily be manipulated and must therefore be evaluated to ensure that the chosen beneficiaries are those who are truly capable of farming productively, the report read.This means the ministry also has a limited overview of resettlement farms that are sublet and those that are occupied by unauthorised persons.According to the report, the ministry must find ways to identify and relocate communal farmers with a large number of livestock and other projects to ensure that they continue to farm productively and improve the productivity of the land and the overall agricultural market. This will boost the current poor agricultural production on allocated land, it said. Category too broadDuring a visit to resettlement farms in the Hardap, Khomas, //Karas, Oshana, Omusati, Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions, the committee highlighted the lease of the land, which is fixed at 99 years, limits previously disadvantaged persons’ "true ownership" of the land.According to the report, one of the main objectives of the programme was to tackle landlessness among farmworkers who have lived and worked on farms for generations as well as those who were previously disadvantaged. However, generations of farmworkers are still negatively affected when the government buys farms for resettlement, the committee found."The broad category of previously disadvantaged persons may have a somewhat detrimental effect on the programme because it made it more competitive for the most vulnerable to be resettled," the report said.It also highlighted the long periods between residents being recruited by government and farms being allocated to beneficiaries as a challenge, adding that this leads to theft and infrastructure falling into disrepair.Meanwhile, a significant number of resettlement farms visited by the committee were found to not be as productive as they should be due to lack of water, capacity and support as well as illegal entry.By 2002, there were an estimated two million small livestock in the market and today, according to the report, this has fallen to 740 000. Another obstacle is the lack of adequate earth dams, which particularly affects residents living in flood-prone areas.Over 5 000 resettledSince the beginning of the ministry's resettlement programme in 1990, 590 farms have been acquired at a total cost of N$2.5 billion and a combined size of 3.5 million hectares.In 2020, the ministry set the goal of purchasing five million hectares. So far, however, only 67% or 3.5 million hectares have been purchased. Due to a lack of funding, the ministry must still buy farms measuring 1.5 million hectares to reach its goal.A total of 5 490 previously disadvantaged Namibians have been resettled, of which 2 146 are men, 1 468 are women and 31 are legal entities.The remaining 1 845 previously disadvantaged Namibians could not be recorded, because the resettlement of groups and San development projects fall under the banner of the gender equality, poverty eradication and social welfare ministry.The most residents (2 008) were resettled in Omaheke, followed by 1 306 in Oshikoto, with the least (551) resettled in Otjozondjupa. The ministry budgets N$40 million annually for the development of infrastructure for water and fences, while resettled farmers also receive N$200 000 each from Agribank. For the resettlement of groups, the ministry allocates N$3 million annually to help farmers.

Resettlement farms unoccupied for years

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-27

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Resettlement farms unoccupied for years

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-27

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