Red Line still haunts northern farmers
Red Line still haunts northern farmers

Red Line still haunts northern farmers

Communal farmers from north of the Oshivelo Veterinary Cordon Fence (VCF) continue to be disadvantaged by the disease-control mechanism , also known as the Red Line. At a meeting held by the Agricultural Bank of Namibia (Agribank) at Eenhana on Tuesday, farmers called for the abolition of the fence in order to allow free movement of cattle south of the line. One of the farmers, Jesay Haihambo from Okongo, said doing away with the Red Line would enable farmers in the northern communal area (NCA) to improve their farming and grow into commercial farmers. “It is in the commercial area south of Oshivelo where good grazing land is available, unlike in the NCA (northern communal areas). Politicians should introduce a law that will facilitate the immediate abolishment of the Red Line to allow unification of people in the farming sector,” he said. Its name derived from its depiction in red ink on a 1911 map of the country, the Red Line was established to isolate foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in the North from farms in the commercial area south of the fence. Many farmers from the northern areas have maintained that many of these quarantined areas have not had any FMD outbreaks in more than 30 years. Agribank CEO Leonard Iipumbu cited the facilitation of 38 943 permanent jobs in the agricultural sector since the bank's establishment in 2003 as one of its major accomplishments. He said that was made possible through the bank’s provision of financial support to farmers. In addition, Iipumbu said the bank was instrumental in creating a further 77 886 temporary jobs in the sector to date. The bank has supported a total of 8 143 communal farmers to the tune of around N$400 000 million. This is in addition to the more than N$1.4 billion in loans advanced to 3 391 commercial farmers over the 11-year period. Iipumbu said Agribank wants to see more farmers graduating from subsistence farming to commercial farming. EENHANA NAMPA

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-17

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