Namibia: Land tenure under spotlight

04 March 2010, New Era
URL: http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=9786&sid=f62261a39841a88c7cf846f21f7a9ed4

Windhoek:   Practical steps are afoot to confer land tenure to communal areas, thus eliminating persistent problems facing communal farmers.  Millennium Challenge Account Namibia has just concluded week-long discussions with communal areas in six regions on rangeland and livestock management, central to which is land tenure.

With a bulging purse of US$46 million (about N$350 million) dedicated to agriculture, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Namibia is on a quest to prop up northern communal farmers to a level currently enjoyed by commercial farmers, of better production output and higher income.

Hence, addressing land and livestock management, the two integral components to which land tenure is central. Twenty years after independence, Namibian communities subsisting on non-freehold land are still waiting for appropriate legislation on land tenure reform in communal areas, with an odd public debate in between by politicians.

The MCA programme would address the land problem through the strengthening of land ownership verification and registration in the communal areas.  The just-ended discussions on this topic are just the first step. MCA Namibia has appointed a host of consultants to do training and render implementation support to communal farmers.

Some consultants would help with the implementation of communal land support activity that would strengthen land rights verification and registration leading towards improved land tenure in the northern communal areas. Others would provide training to communal farmers on management of communal land and livestock.

The consultants consisting of German Technical Development Corporation (GTZ), that would render implementation support, and German company Society for Organisation, Planning and Training Worldwide Consultants, together with an international outfit GRM International and the Namibia National Farmers Union.

The two consultancy five-year contracts are valued at US$15 million (about N$140 million) and US$10 million (about N$80 million) respectively. MCA Namibia’s Chief Executive Officer, Penny Akwenye, who led the team to the northern regions for discussions on the matter, says communal land activities “would assist in fast-tracking the agenda of the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement to implement the provisions of communal land reform and to regularise land tenure in the northern communal areas.”

Focus areas are Kunene and Oshikoto north, as well as the entire regions of Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena and Kavango.

The consultants would train communities in these regions on better planning and management of communal land and livestock. The ultimate goal, says Akwenye, is for communal farmers to have higher income from livestock farming.

MCA Namibia, through the consultants, would introduce communal farmers to better land use planning and new technologies as well as skills that could help farmers improve grazing areas, entrepreneurial skills, and best practice in animal husbandry.

Akwenye says regional governors that she met were “upbeat about the consultations and feel that it is very important for them to be briefed on various developments that will be happening in their regions or constituencies”.

Accompanying Akwenye were representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, as well as those of the three institutions hired as consultants for the programme.

Meanwhile, Akwenye says MCA Namibia is on the verge of signing a contract with textbooks suppliers to deliver the textbooks valued at over N$1.5 million for distribution to all Government schools across the regions. MCA Namibia launched its five-year project activities on September 16 last year.