WINDHOEKFAITH SANKWASA
The country's green scheme irrigation projects may soon be supplying food to the army and State hospitals.
This follows a recommendation by the Standing Committee on Economic, Natural Resources and Public Administration that government buys the bulk of produce farmed by the country's green schemes.
The recommendation is a result of a visit by the standing committee to the Caprivi and Kavango regions between May 6 and 16 last year.
The report on this visit was tabled in parliament on Tuesday and proposes that the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry should find a market for the green scheme produce.
It is proposed that government make it policy that 80% of the green scheme produce be bought for the army, State hospitals, schools and for drought relief programmes.
During their visit to the irrigation projects last year, the standing committee also heard of several challenges facing the green schemes, including the use of outdated equipment that constantly needs to be maintained, while some initiatives were still is operating without any farming implements.
Critically, the visit revealed that the green scheme projects are facing increasing threat, as there is no local support from retailers, who are not sensitised to buy produce.
There is therefore no market for the green scheme crops.
The report deals with the Shadikongoro, Shitemo, Ndonga Linena, Uvhungu-Uvhungu, Musese and Sikondo green scheme and irrigation projects, which are all situated in the Kavango Region.
These green schemes harvest, maize, wheat, rice, mahangu and vegetables such as cabbage, carrots and butternut, while sunflowers are planted for cooking oil production.
"The government, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, should consider applying for a Southern African Customs Union(SACU) Infant Industry Protection Clause for eight years, in order to protect the green scheme projects against the influx of cheaper fresh produce from other countries," the report said.
"The ministry should also standardise all green scheme project lease agreements," it added.
At the Shadikongoro project, the group observed that the prices of the crops are determined by the Agronomic Board and that the electricity charges to pump water range between N$60 000 and N$150 000 per month.
At Shitemo, which is the oldest green scheme initiative in the country - started in the 1980s - it was discovered that the project was operating on a short-term lease and lacked a combined harvester and used old equipment.
The Uvhungu-Uvhungu project's pump station suffers constant breakdowns, leaving crops without water for up to ten days - resulting in stunted growth.
The lack of a harvester also delays land preparation.
The committee proposed the purchase of a pump station and combined harvester for the project.
The Sikondo project is in dire need of additional manpower and does not have its own equipment. The sunflower seeds produced at Sikondo is transported to Shadikongoro for processing.
The Musese irrigation project was started in 2009 with 10 farmers being allocated ten hectares each. The government supplies the farmers with water, while the project assists them with services such as electricity and training.
The stranding committee recommended that the ministry speed up the development of a green scheme project in Caprivi Region, after 1 000 hectares of land was availed at Muyako area.
An amount of N$10 million has been budgeted for this in the 2012/13 financial year.
The Kalimbeza Rice Project also reported that its produce is frequently destroyed by elephants. It was also suffering several other constraints, including inadequate implements and machinery and a lack of staff housing, due to insufficient budget allocations.
The standing committee was made up parliamentarians Ben Amathila, Jesaya Nyamu, Maureen Jankowski, Samson Tjongarero, as well as including officials from the ministries of environment and tourism, agriculture, water and forestry, as well as Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) staff.