Ex-cop launches promising horticulture project at Omuthiya

The youth in Namibia must use resources available to them, including land, to create employment for themselves instead of looking to government to give them jobs.

This was said by 33-year-old Phillip Namburu, who recently launched an ambitious horticultural project on a 30-hectare plot he inherited from his grandmother at Omutse go ndjaba, 20 kilometres from Omuthiya in the Oshikoto region.

He has already started working on one hectare which he fenced off with the help of four other people.

“We have to roll up our sleeves and work in line with the saying: ‘Dirty hands equals clean money’,” he said of the project focused on enhancing food security in the country.

“I realised that at Omuthiya, people selling at the market have difficulty sourcing produce like cabbages, onions and tomatoes, and they have to travel either to Tsumeb or the Etunda irrigation scheme to acquire them, always at high transport cost,” he said.

“I asked my mother and family if I could utilise the plot, which had been fallow for some time, and they agreed, so work on the project began,” he said.

Namburu said they established a nursery for seedlings in July, which were transplanted to the beds three weeks ago.

They planted cabbages, tomatoes, green peppers and watermelons, and also planned on growing potatoes, but could not get the right seed tubers.

“On another section, we plan on establishing an orchard,” he said, adding that they will continue expanding the project gradually until the whole plot is utilised.

Namburu said the people of Omuthiya are enthusiastic about the development.

“We recently had a school bringing pupils for agriculture practical lessons and just to see how things are done on the field,” he said.

He said he was inspired to start the project, named Nelambo Green Farm, after identifying a gap in the supply of horticultural produce at the town.

“I was a police officer for five years before joining the City of Windhoek as a fire fighter. When my contract ended, I came home to Omuthiya and started looking for opportunities. I realised that people were struggling to get produce.

They complained about the high cost of bringing vegetables from other towns.

“I reasoned that if somebody stepped up and made it easier for these people by bringing produce to them, all of us would benefit.

“I would earn a living and they would make better profit margins as they would not have to travel far to get their produce,” said Namburu, who does not have a formal education in agriculture, but conducted extensive research on the project.

“What really inspired me is that we need to reduce our reliance on food imports and produce food for ourselves.”

Namburu said his biggest challenge was sourcing water. He gets water for the project from NamWater but this is expensive and he cannot afford to sink a borehole.

He also needs funds for fencing the whole plot as he had only fenced off one hectare using his own finances.

He had not approached financial institutions like Agribank for a loan because he was not aware of their products, he said.

“We got a grant through the Okashana Rural Development Centre, which falls under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, to purchase equipment.

“They pay 65% for the equipment and the farmer pays 35%. With this grant we installed the drip irrigation system including a 5 000 litre tank, as well as net shade for the seedlings.

Agribank spokesperson Fillemon Nangonya advised Namburu to approach the bank for possible assistance.

“We at Agribank have an open door policy, especially towards assisting women and the youth who want to venture into agriculture. That is our mandate,” he said.

Last week, Letshego announced that they had opened services to all Namibians, not only those working for the state to acquire loans, including for farming purposes.

Namburu said he plans to expand the project as much as possible and introduce other agro-projects including livestock.

“We are also eyeing the export market,” he said. – email: matthew@namibian.com.na