Wezi Tjaronda
29 April 2008
Windhoek — The Emerging Commercial Farmers Support Programme (ECFSP) has trained 573 farmers since it started in May 2007.
The programme, whose target is affirmative action loan scheme and resettlement farmers, aims at increasing and diversifying commercial farmers' income through the promotion of improved agricultural practices.
The programme is an initiative of the Joint Presidency Committee of the Namibia National Farmers Union and the Namibia Agriculture Union, which is funded under the European Union's 9th European Development Fund.
By end March, the programme had conducted 13 farmers' days and reached 553 farmers in the eight regions with commercial farmland.
The programme started out of a need to help emerging farmers operate their farms as profitable businesses because making the transition from communal tenure areas to managing land in free-hold tenure areas involves an abrupt change not only in terms of the farm business environment but also farm management practices.
The long-term aim of the programme is to contribute towards the improvement of livelihoods of emerging commercial farmers and achieving Namibia's poverty reduction objectives that are set out in Vision 2030. The Government wants to redistribute at least 15 million hectares of commercial farmland from previously advantaged white farmers to previously disadvantaged black farmers by 2020. ECFSP Programme Manager Bertus Kruger told New Era last week the programme offers short three- to five-day courses on components of livestock and crops, from production to marketing.
Its major activities include farmers and information days, short courses, pre-settlement orientation courses, excursions for farmers' groups, summer and winter schools, mentoring, production of manuals, support to farmers' associations and training courses for farmers' associations.
According to Kruger, the programme has appointed 10 mentors of which two are supported by the GTZ to help emerging farmers build their capacity. The mentorship programme started operating in January 2008 and has so far made 45 visits and reached 345 farmers. Kruger said the programme, through Earthwise Namibia, orientates people that are eligible for resettlement to prepare them for what is lying ahead in their new businesses.
The programme has also come up with a system of analysing farming efficiency, which looks at specific needs of farmers. Kruger said the programme was looking for volunteers to participate in SAFE by providing data regarding their income and expenditure for it to be compared to the best in Namibia for reference.
"This will help them to see how they are doing in terms of production," he said. One of the problems facing emerging commercial farmers is lack of readily available material, which they can use for reference. The programme has developed eight manuals on crop production, rangeland management, small stock, large stock, animal health, farm mechanics, labour and farming finances, which will be distributed to all farmers.
Four of the manuals have been published and will be launched around May 16, while the rest will be printed by end May.
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