Emerging farmers emerge

A NEWLY created agriculture forum wants to find a common overarching structure for all farmers in Namibia.

The Namibia Emerging Commercial Farmers’ Forum (NECFF) was created last weekend. It plans to work closely with both the Namibia National Farmers’ Union (NNFU), which represents communal farmers, and the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU).”We want to achieve unity and co-operation among all farmers in the country,” said Solomon Tjipura, NECFF Chairman.”The outcome of the inaugural conference was extremely positive.A common understanding was that land reform is needed, but this should be done in a legal and organised manner without sacrificing agricultural productivity,” Tjipura said in a statement this week.The NECFF also distanced itself from a call to “grab land nationwide from German nationals” made by the Namibia Emerging Farmers’ Association (Nefa), as reported in The Namibian on Monday.”Nefa created confusion in this matter,” Tjipura said.”This issue was neither on the agenda nor discussed at our well-attended conference last weekend.We want to make it clear that the NECFF distances itself fully from statements like these and that Nefa is not representing the emerging commercial farmers in this country.”The purpose of the NECFF conference was to share information about the EU-supported Emerging Commercial Farmers’ Support Programme (ECFSP), to reflect on the situation of emerging commercial farmers in relation to organised agriculture and to reach consensus on the way forward.The farmers felt that current structures like the NAU and the NNFU did not seem to meet the special needs of emerging farmers in the country.”The NNFU mainly seems to cater for the needs of communal farmers while the NAU mainly represents established commercial farmers.Special needs include issues like Government guarantees for procurement of farmland, length and conditions of the grace period before the first payment is required, entry criteria to qualify for AgriBank support, subsidies, land tax and agriculture-related interest rates,” according to Tjipura.The NAU and NNFU have a Joint Presidency Committee (JPC) that meets regularly to discuss common issues between communal and commercial farmers and to discuss strategies on how to bring these issues to the attention of Government and other important stakeholders.Emerging farmers are currently not represented on the JPC.One of the prerequisites was that emerging farmers should first organise themselves and then apply for representation.This was done over the past weekend with the formation of the Forum, although it is neither a permanent structure nor an additional farmers’ union.One of the first tasks of the new forum is to seek representation in the JPC in order to work towards a common structure for all farmers in the country, and to ensure that their specific needs are put on the JPC agenda.Regional representatives from the meeting will start mobilising and organising emerging commercial farmers at regional level.The conference over the weekend was sponsored and facilitated by the EU’s N$9,5 million ECFSP programme.Bertus Kruger, who was attached to the Desert Research Foundation, (DRFN), has been appointed as ECFSP co-ordinator.It plans to work closely with both the Namibia National Farmers’ Union (NNFU), which represents communal farmers, and the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU).”We want to achieve unity and co-operation among all farmers in the country,” said Solomon Tjipura, NECFF Chairman.”The outcome of the inaugural conference was extremely positive.A common understanding was that land reform is needed, but this should be done in a legal and organised manner without sacrificing agricultural productivity,” Tjipura said in a statement this week.The NECFF also distanced itself from a call to “grab land nationwide from German nationals” made by the Namibia Emerging Farmers’ Association (Nefa), as reported in The Namibian on Monday.”Nefa created confusion in this matter,” Tjipura said.”This issue was neither on the agenda nor discussed at our well-attended conference last weekend.We want to make it clear that the NECFF distances itself fully from statements like these and that Nefa is not representing the emerging commercial farmers in this country.”The purpose of the NECFF conference was to share information about the EU-supported Emerging Commercial Farmers’ Support Programme (ECFSP), to reflect on the situation of emerging commercial farmers in relation to organised agriculture and to reach consensus on the way forward.The farmers felt that current structures like the NAU and the NNFU did not seem to meet the special needs of emerging farmers in the country.”The NNFU mainly seems to cater for the needs of communal farmers while the NAU mainly represents established commercial farmers.Special needs include issues like Government guarantees for procurement of farmland, length and conditions of the grace period before the first payment is required, entry criteria to qualify for AgriBank support, subsidies, land tax and agriculture-related interest rates,” according to Tjipura.The NAU and NNFU have a Joint Presidency Committee (JPC) that meets regularly to discuss common issues between communal and commercial farmers and to discuss strategies on how to bring these issues to the attention of Government and other important stakeholders.Emerging farmers are currently not represented on the JPC.One of the prerequisites was that emerging farmers should first organise themselves and then apply for representation.This was done over the past weekend with the formation of the Forum, although it is neither a permanent structure nor an additional farmers’ union.One of the first tasks of the new forum is to seek representation in the JPC in order to work towards a common structure for all farmers in the country, and to ensure that their specific needs are put on the JPC agenda.Regional representatives from the meeting will start mobilising and organising emerging commercial farmers at regional level.The conference over the weekend was sponsored and facilitated by the EU’s N$9,5 million ECFSP programme.Bertus Kruger, who was attached to the Desert Research Foundation, (DRFN), has been appointed as ECFSP co-ordinator.