Emerging farmers warn of land grabs

THE Namibia Emerging Farmers Association (Nefa) is calling for alternatives to the willing-buyer, willing-seller approach used by Namibia in its land reform process.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Nefa Executive Director Nokokure Tjizera said his association would be forced to “take the law into its own hands” unless Government introduced other policies that would speed up the land-reform process. This, he said, might mean a land-grab situation as was the case in Zimbabwe.”I personally fought for this country along with those who are today buried,” Tjizera said, “yet the land they fought for is still not theirs.”He urged Government to especially look at taking over hunting farms and land belonging to absentee landlords.Referring to a decision taken during a 1991 land conference that ancestral land claims would not be allowed, he said this rule too should be abolished.”The reality is that we, the black majority, will claim our ancestral land,” he stated.”I’m not saying they’re not Namibian,” he said of the farmers he was targeting, “but they should share the land with others.”In addition, Tjizera lashed out at the Meat Board of Namibia, the Namibia Karakul Board and the Agronomic Board, saying that these boards had been shutting out black communal and emerging farmers.”It is disappointing to see that agriculture is still in the hands of white commercial farmers,” he said, “yet the stakeholders to these institutions are communal farmers and emerging farmers who do not benefit from their product.”Staying on the case of the Meat Board, Tjizera said the board needed to remove the ‘Redline’ cordon fence from Namibia and extend it into Angola.The so-called Redline is a quarantine fence which separates areas free from certain diseases from areas where these diseases are present.Approached for comment yesterday, Dr Otto Hubschle, Acting Chief Veterinarian Officer at the Directorate of Veterinarian Services, said the Redline was often mistakenly seen as a fence separating commercial from communal farms.Hubschle said moving the line was not a simple issue, because the livestock diseases had to be contained first.”It’s time to move away from emotions and look at it in terms of scientific considerations,” Hubschle told The Namibian.Nefa on Friday proposed asking China and Cuba to provide veterinarians to immunise cattle against foot-and-mouth disease in the affected regions.”We’ll approach our sister countries China and Cuba.They have lots of vets that they’ll provide us with practically on a silver plate,” Tjizera said.Meat Board General Manager Paul Strydom also commented on Nefa’s claims yesterday.He said it was not true that black farmers were not involved in the running of the parastatal.The Meat Board is a 13-member board, he said, with members having to be approved by the Ministry of Agriculture after they’re nominated by nominating organisations.This, he said, might mean a land-grab situation as was the case in Zimbabwe.”I personally fought for this country along with those who are today buried,” Tjizera said, “yet the land they fought for is still not theirs.”He urged Government to especially look at taking over hunting farms and land belonging to absentee landlords.Referring to a decision taken during a 1991 land conference that ancestral land claims would not be allowed, he said this rule too should be abolished.”The reality is that we, the black majority, will claim our ancestral land,” he stated.”I’m not saying they’re not Namibian,” he said of the farmers he was targeting, “but they should share the land with others.” In addition, Tjizera lashed out at the Meat Board of Namibia, the Namibia Karakul Board and the Agronomic Board, saying that these boards had been shutting out black communal and emerging farmers.”It is disappointing to see that agriculture is still in the hands of white commercial farmers,” he said, “yet the stakeholders to these institutions are communal farmers and emerging farmers who do not benefit from their product.”Staying on the case of the Meat Board, Tjizera said the board needed to remove the ‘Redline’ cordon fence from Namibia and extend it into Angola.The so-called Redline is a quarantine fence which separates areas free from certain diseases from areas where these diseases are present.Approached for comment yesterday, Dr Otto Hubschle, Acting Chief Veterinarian Officer at the Directorate of Veterinarian Services, said the Redline was often mistakenly seen as a fence separating commercial from communal farms.Hubschle said moving the line was not a simple issue, because the livestock diseases had to be contained first.”It’s time to move away from emotions and look at it in terms of scientific considerations,” Hubschle told The Namibian.Nefa on Friday proposed asking China and Cuba to provide veterinarians to immunise cattle against foot-and-mouth disease in the affected regions.”We’ll approach our sister countries China and Cuba.They have lots of vets that they’ll provide us with practically on a silver plate,” Tjizera said.Meat Board General Manager Paul Strydom also commented on Nefa’s claims yesterday.He said it was not true that black farmers were not involved in the running of the parastatal.The Meat Board is a 13-member board, he said, with members having to be approved by the Ministry of Agriculture after they’re nominated by nominating organisations.