N$4,3 billion needed for land until 2010

THE Ministry of Lands and resettlement has embarked on a new five-year strategic plan for which N$4,3 billion is needed.

It is the second such plan, with the first one having been launched in June last year. No details are given on how many farms will be bought, but N$50 million a year is allocated for the period 2006 to 2010 to buy land.”Our ministry realised the need to develop measures to improve performance and a much focused implementation of our policies with the aim to achieve our objectives successfully,” Deputy Lands Minister Isak Katali said at the launch yesterday.”I appeal to the strategic partners to please assist us in availing the required resources for the plan.”The German development agency GTZ gave input and rendered financial and material support for the plan, he said.The strategic plan states that “land is used and sold often without due consideration of the affected communities that depend on the land or farms for livelihood.”In the same document, the Ministry admits that the “willing-buyer, willing seller concept (to buy farms) has proven to be a complex and multifaceted issue that calls for the development of an alternative strategy”.Most of the farms offered to Government for sale were not suitable for farming, the document states.The strategic plan further noted that the Ministry’s land allocation programme for resettlement should be reconsidered, taking into account the type of land allocated and the demands of the various categories of landless citizens.Next year, the Ministry intends to establish a land agency, a resettlement agency and a land fund to finance “special land projects.”The strategic plan further involves the establishment of a strategic plan committee and the appointment of a strategic plan implementation team.According to the Director of Planning and Research, Eric Ndala, the Ministry has so far acquired 204 commercial farms for resettlement, six of them through expropriation.The total area acquired comes to 1,37 million hectares, on which 2 040 families – 12 240 people – have been resettled so far, Ndala said.The Ministry also identified 4,8 million hectares of underutilised land in communal areas.Some of that land would be converted into farming units, he said.To date, 721 small commercial farming units have been demarcated and surveyed in communal areas – 410 in the Kavango Region, 82 in Caprivi, 24 in Ohangwena and 205 in Oshikoto.No details are given on how many farms will be bought, but N$50 million a year is allocated for the period 2006 to 2010 to buy land.”Our ministry realised the need to develop measures to improve performance and a much focused implementation of our policies with the aim to achieve our objectives successfully,” Deputy Lands Minister Isak Katali said at the launch yesterday.”I appeal to the strategic partners to please assist us in availing the required resources for the plan.”The German development agency GTZ gave input and rendered financial and material support for the plan, he said.The strategic plan states that “land is used and sold often without due consideration of the affected communities that depend on the land or farms for livelihood.”In the same document, the Ministry admits that the “willing-buyer, willing seller concept (to buy farms) has proven to be a complex and multifaceted issue that calls for the development of an alternative strategy”.Most of the farms offered to Government for sale were not suitable for farming, the document states.The strategic plan further noted that the Ministry’s land allocation programme for resettlement should be reconsidered, taking into account the type of land allocated and the demands of the various categories of landless citizens.Next year, the Ministry intends to establish a land agency, a resettlement agency and a land fund to finance “special land projects.”The strategic plan further involves the establishment of a strategic plan committee and the appointment of a strategic plan implementation team.According to the Director of Planning and Research, Eric Ndala, the Ministry has so far acquired 204 commercial farms for resettlement, six of them through expropriation.The total area acquired comes to 1,37 million hectares, on which 2 040 families – 12 240 people – have been resettled so far, Ndala said.The Ministry also identified 4,8 million hectares of underutilised land in communal areas.Some of that land would be converted into farming units, he said.To date, 721 small commercial farming units have been demarcated and surveyed in communal areas – 410 in the Kavango Region, 82 in Caprivi, 24 in Ohangwena and 205 in Oshikoto.