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Monday, October 24, 2005 - Web posted at 7:58:04 GMT Farmers in northern communal areas support fencing off of farms *OSWALD SHIVUTE at OLUNOCOMMUNAL farmers in the North are in favour of fencing off of farms in communal areas and have appealed to traditional authorities in the North who are against it, to consider it positively. |
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The Chairman of the Mangetti Farmers' Association, Ismael Shailemo, told farmers at Oluno in the Oshana Region on Saturday that the Mangetti Farmers' Association was in favour of a semi-commercial farming area in the east of the Ondonga District, including Mangetti farms. According to Shailemo, the Ministry of Lands plans to have an area in the eastern part of Ondonga District demarcated in fenced farm plots of 3 600 hectares each, where a farmer can have 300 cattle and 1 800 goats. This system, Shailemo said, would first start in the western Kavango grazing area. It will then be tried in the eastern part of Ondonga District in the Oshikoto Region. A senior member of the Mangetti Farmers Association, Martin Haikali, said he hoped that other traditional authorities, such as the Oukwanyama in the Ohangwena Region, the Ongandjera in the Omusati Region and Uukwambi in the Oshana and Omusati regions, which also have grazing areas, would follow suit. Both Shailemo and Haikali said well-organised farming required farmers to keep animals in a fenced-off area. "We want to farm properly so that we can get money from our cattle. We want to export our meat to other SADC countries such as South Africa, Angola, DRC and other countries including Europe," said Shailemo. He said the MFA welcomed the efforts of the Ministry of Lands to create such farming blocks, so that all the farmers could have animals in fenced camps. "We really can only treat our animals well and keep them healthy when we have them in a well fenced-off area," Shailemo added. He called on all their members to re-register their farms under the new Government system. Shailemo said that all their members who were given farms by traditional authorities had to re-apply to the Ministry of Land. He advised his members to provide all approval documents from either the King, the senior headmen or the village headman, to back up the new application forms to the Ministry of Lands. The Governor of the Ohangwena Region, Usko Ngaamwa, blamed the traditional set-up of the Oshiwambo-speaking people. "Let us now move to a farming career where you have only those who are fit in that career to have animals and have farms and not to have everyone a farmer. Where are we going to have farming land for all?" he said. |
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