Government plans to speed up land reform

GOVERNMENT bought only three farms during the last financial year, and Lands Minister Alpheus !Naruseb describes it as a ‘challenging year’.

The target is to redistribute 15 million hectares of freehold land through the resettlement programme and the affirmative action loan scheme by the year 2020.!Naruseb said in the National Assembly on Thursday that Government has so far only managed to redistribute 4,3 million hectares through the two programmes, leaving 10,7 million hectares still to be redistributed.Government has set aside N$104 million for land acquisition, distribution and resettlement in this year’s budget of N$174,2 million.!Naruseb said his Ministry has started exploring a variety of land acquisition methods in order to reach their target.In the past Government expressed unhappiness with the slow pace of acquisition and introduced the controversial expropriation, saying the willing-buyer willing-seller concept was failing.’I would however like to reassure this House that I am also considering new initiatives that will hasten the implementation of this programme,’ !Naruseb said.He said the Ministry has also initiated programmes aimed at improving economic production on the acquired land.That includes upgrading the water infrastructure on resettlement farms and the rehabilitation of farm units.It has also started developing support packages for beneficiaries resettled on Government farms and will, together with the Agricultural Bank, provide loans for ‘productive inputs’ to resettlement farmers.For that the Ministry has set aside N$20 million for each of the following three financial years.christof@namibian.com.na