Namibia: Stimulating Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Namibia

opinion

THE CREATION of agricultural enterprises represents one of the most effective ways to stimulate rural development in Africa. Africa spends about US$40bn annually importing food, whereas 60% of its land is unused arable land.

At the African Union Summit in July 2014, African leaders will have the chance to review and revitalise the Maputo Declaration and to make new commitments in order to implement an enhanced Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The commitment by African governments to spend 10% of their budget allocation on agriculture has only been achieved by seven countries thus far. Namibia allocates 4,3% of the overall budget to the ministry of agriculture. From that a lion's share is consumed by operational costs and does not trickle down to actual food production and food security.

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