IT IS NOT unusual to hear some people say that Namibia's youth are not interested in agriculture. These are mostly politicians, government office bearers and the elders in our communities.
Some of them dismiss the youth as lazy. Yet others charge that the youth shun agricultural activities, that they prefer to pursue professions where they can don suits and polished shoes. The real questions are: Is it the will, availability of farming land or markets to sell local produce or general support that the youth lack? It might be land but I toured Namibia and found many unnoticed and unrecognised small farming projects going on in our communities. I also found a lack of support – from individuals, the business community, financial institutions, universities and training institutions and the government. Many among our youth are hard at work, be it in gardening, poultry, piggeries, aquaculture, crop farming or even the processing of raw materials. Sadly, though, I have seen youth give up on their dreams, give up on their projects, give up on everything they have fought hard for over many years. Despite a burning desire to do something, they are unable to overcome the obstacles they encounter. Finance is one of the main challenges. The youth struggle to get assistance from commercial banks and other financial institutions to start or grow their agribusinesses. There are a number of reasons for this, including collateral, poorly presented business plans, unemployment, etc. An issue that does not get mentioned enough is markets. There are youth and others producing enough to feed us in our constituencies and regions, if not much of the nation, but the market is not keen to accommodate young agribusinesses. Does our government really recognise that these small farmers have the potential to feed the entire country? I doubt it. It is not uncommon during this time of Covid-19 to hear people say the pandemic is teaching us many lessons. One is that “agriculture is the backbone of and key to a self-sufficient nation when it comes to food production”. The government allocated N$1,3 billion to agriculture for the 2020/21 financial year. It is not enough. What makes matters worse is that there are no plans or programmes aimed at growing the number of small and emerging farmers. With a market dominated by imported agricultural produce, even with the produce we grow in abundance, how can these small farmers survive? The larger shops in Namibia still import their white meat and fresh produce from neighbouring South Africa. Where are the policies and protection schemes aimed at protecting Namibian producers – like the Mahangu Protection Scheme and Pork Promotion Scheme? Isn't it time to refocus on these types of policies, programmes and protection schemes? Let's give exposure to our small and emerging agripreneurs by marketing them and their produce to potential customers, investors and donors for profitable and sustainable agribusiness. Let's help them achieve their full potential. Let's give them the opportunity to feed hunger-stricken Namibians. Let's help them create employment for themselves and fellow unemployed Namibians. With full support from every one of us, they can and will succeed.
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