Calls to revive idle green schemes

Kavango East governor Julius Hambyuka is calling for dedicated budgets and decentralised management to revive dormant green schemes and improve regional food security.

He says it would good if the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform budgeted for every green scheme.

This would enable them to become fully operational and productive, he recently told The Namibian following his remarks about reviving the four green schemes in his region to address food insecurity.

“They are now getting money from a pool. Each green scheme should have a budget and the management of green schemes should be decentralised, rather than being run by a person sitting in Windhoek,” Hambyuka said.

He said he recently visited some green schemes in the region and some are not functioning at all, with workers being paid despite not working.

The five green schemes in the Kavango West region are Shadikongoro, Shitemo, Mashare, Ndonga Linena and Uvunghu-Vungu.

“Two or three of them are not operational,” the governor said.

Hambyuka said the Uvunghu-Vunghu green scheme is doing well, but the Mashare green scheme is dormant.

“They have livestock there, but these animals are thinner than mine. Management needs to do something. Ndonga Linena is doing well, but there is nothing going on at Shitemo,” he said.

The governor said he would compile a report with findings and recommendations after visiting the region’s green schemes.

Meanwhile, the private operator of the Musese green scheme in the Kavango West region, Winni Metzger, recently sent Hambyuka a number of suggestions on how to ensure fully productive, sustainable, profitable and environmentally correct green schemes.

Metzger suggested that green schemes have a 12-member advisory board, consisting of members from the community, traditional authority, regional councils, agricultural extension officers, and green scheme managers.

He suggested that 50% of the green schemes are privately operated as government green schemes are gobbling up tax and are unprofitable due to a lack of ambition, entrepreneurship and ideas.

“This ration must be adjusted after 10 years towards the better operating model with compensation of the inputs to the investors,” Metzger said.

Green schemes must contribute N$40 per hectare monthly to traditional authorities to have their support on the ground as traditional authorities are an integral part “of our age-old functioning structures in Africa and must be maintained”, he said.

Metzger said green schemes should be double fenced to act as a buying station or market for villages and a quarantine station for cattle being fattening for the market.

The Divundu Correctional Servics green scheme is doing well, he said, as well as the Shadikongoro project.

He said the Shitemo green scheme “is in a total mess”, Ndonga Linena is productive, and Mupapama is in production and set to improve.

The Mashare green scheme has experienced challenging weather, yet is productive, while Uvunghu-Vungu is partly productive with grains, but the dairy section “is a white elephant”, he said.

Metzger said the Sikondo green scheme is productive and could improve.

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