Proposal On Land Reform
I FEEL expropriation of large farms will turn the manpower of the country into a purely agrarian one and no surplus labour will be left to industrialise the country.
I propose the following:
A - Government effort should be directed at the development of
industry and this should be agro-based.
Cotton and sugarcane can be produced in Namibia.
The existing large farms have the capacity and means to change
to the production of these commodities.
There is enough water underground.
It needs to be harnessed with little ecological change and
development.
India has changed most dry deserts into granaries.
B - The large farms should be taxed heavily above 500
hectares.
This tax could be used for stipends for families now
unemployed.
This also will produce the effect that the large farmers will
want to sell their surplus land at a reasonable price.
C - 240,000 - the number of disadvantaged is not of families but
total number of population.
This would be readily absorbed in industry.
The people able to work are far less (divided by 5 to get the
number of families = 48 000).
The sugar cane and cotton are labour intensive crops for
harvesting.
Sugar mills and cotton industry skills are basic and easily
learnt.
So Namibia should take advantage of its potential - surplus
labour and agricultural land, and use it to its advantage rather
than senselessly copy other nations and fall into disrepute.
Joseph Daniels
UK
Via e-mail
A - Government effort should be directed at the development of
industry and this should be agro-based.Cotton and sugarcane can be
produced in Namibia.The existing large farms have the capacity and
means to change to the production of these commodities.There is
enough water underground.It needs to be harnessed with little
ecological change and development.India has changed most dry
deserts into granaries.B - The large farms should be taxed heavily
above 500 hectares.This tax could be used for stipends for families
now unemployed.This also will produce the effect that the large
farmers will want to sell their surplus land at a reasonable
price.C - 240,000 - the number of disadvantaged is not of families
but total number of population.This would be readily absorbed in
industry.The people able to work are far less (divided by 5 to get
the number of families = 48 000).The sugar cane and cotton are
labour intensive crops for harvesting.Sugar mills and cotton
industry skills are basic and easily learnt.So Namibia should take
advantage of its potential - surplus labour and agricultural land,
and use it to its advantage rather than senselessly copy other
nations and fall into disrepute.Joseph Daniels
UK
Via e-mail