Rain prospects look good

NAMIBIA could expect good rainfall by Christmas, with average to above-average rainfall from January until April 2008, Windhoek weatherman Riaan van Zyl says.

It might even rain until May 2008. Van Zyl was a guest speaker at a meeting of the Windhoek Regional Agricultural Union (RAU) last week.According to the weather expert, there is still a strong La Niña phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean which heightens the rain chances for Namibia.”It is a natural pattern, as Namibia gets scattered showers at this time of the year but the rainfall for Namibia in general should still be higher than the average.”NAU puts land plan to Ministry THE Ministry of Lands and Resettlement held a workshop last week where the capacity of the Ministry for the implementing of its Strategic Plan 2006 – 2010 was scrutinised.According to this plan, about 4,1 million hectares of commercial agricultural land must be transferred to previously disadvantaged farmers by 2010 to reach the target of 15 million ha by 2015.About 5 million ha have already been transferred under the different programmes of land reform.The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) was invited to determine which role it can play in the land reform process.Other role players that were invited but did not turn up at the workshop included AgriBank, the NNFU, educational organisations such as Unam, the Polytechnic, and commercial banks.NAU made a comprehensive presentation on its involvement in land reform and presented its updated document of 2006, ‘The NAU and land reform’, which was also given to the Ministry.From the workshop it was clear that the Ministry is concerned that the willing seller, willing buyer model does not provide sufficient land for the land reform programme and that serious consideration should be given to expropriate more land.Workshop on agrarian reform THE Namibia Economic Policy Research Unit (Nepru) held a one-day workshop on land issues last week.Nepru is the Namibian counterpart or focal point for the Civil Society Land and Agrarian Reform Initiative in the Southern African Development Community.The first stage of this process consisted of a Country Paper prepared by Nepru, followed by a workshop held in Gaborone, Botswana, in September where an action plan was compiled.The second stage of the project entails identifying national land networks in the participating countries, which can be strengthened through partnerships between key stakeholders working in the areas of land and agrarian reform.The implementation of the second stage started with the workshop last week.Meat permits for the holidays NUMEROUS farmers will probably travel to South Africa for the holiday season and take meat, biltong and droëwors along as a present.The National Agricultural Union (NAU) points out that the Department of Agriculture in South Africa has certain requirements for the import of meat to South Africa for own use.Permits must be obtained beforehand from that department.According to the latest NAU newsletter, the requirements are as follows: Each person above the age of 12 years in a vehicle is entitled to transport 25 kg of raw meat to South Africa without an import permit.Each person above the age of 12 years in a vehicle is entitled to transport 10 kg of biltong/droëwors without an import permit.For 25 kg to 250 kg of meat or 10 to100 kg of biltong/droëwors per person, an RSA import permit and Animal Health Certificate is required.Raw pork (which includes wild pigs and biltong of wild pigs) must be accompanied by an RSA veterinary import permit.RSA veterinary permits can be obtained from Ina Labuschagne at Tel (0027 12) 319 7514/ -7414/ -7632/ -7503, fax (0027 12) 329 8292 / 319 7491, email InaL@nda.agric.za .Van Zyl was a guest speaker at a meeting of the Windhoek Regional Agricultural Union (RAU) last week.According to the weather expert, there is still a strong La Niña phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean which heightens the rain chances for Namibia.”It is a natural pattern, as Namibia gets scattered showers at this time of the year but the rainfall for Namibia in general should still be higher than the average.” NAU puts land plan to Ministry THE Ministry of Lands and Resettlement held a workshop last week where the capacity of the Ministry for the implementing of its Strategic Plan 2006 – 2010 was scrutinised.According to this plan, about 4,1 million hectares of commercial agricultural land must be transferred to previously disadvantaged farmers by 2010 to reach the target of 15 million ha by 2015.About 5 million ha have already been transferred under the different programmes of land reform.The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) was invited to determine which role it can play in the land reform process.Other role players that were invited but did not turn up at the workshop included AgriBank, the NNFU, educational organisations such as Unam, the Polytechnic, and commercial banks.NAU made a comprehensive presentation on its involvement in land reform and presented its updated document of 2006, ‘The NAU and land reform’, which was also given to the Ministry.From the workshop it was clear that the Ministry is concerned that the willing seller, willing buyer model does not provide sufficient land for the land reform programme and that serious consideration should be given to expropriate more land.Workshop on agrarian reform THE Namibia Economic Policy Research Unit (Nepru) held a one-day workshop on land issues last week.Nepru is the Namibian counterpart or focal point for the Civil Society Land and Agrarian Reform Initiative in the Southern African Development Community.The first stage of this process consisted of a Country Paper prepared by Nepru, followed by a workshop held in Gaborone, Botswana, in September where an action plan was compiled.The second stage of the project entails identifying national land networks in the participating countries, which can be strengthened through partnerships between key stakeholders working in the areas of land and agrarian reform.The implementation of the second stage started with the workshop last week.Meat permits for the holidays NUMEROUS farmers will probably travel to South Africa for the holiday season and take meat, biltong and droëwors along as a present.The National Agricultural Union (NAU) points out that the Department of Agriculture in South Africa has certain requirements for the import of meat to South Africa for own use.Permits must be obtained beforehand from that department.According to the latest NAU newsletter, the requirements are as follows: Each person above the age of 12 years in a vehicle is entitled to transport 25 kg of raw meat to South Africa without an import permit.Each person above the age of 12 years in a vehicle is entitled to transport 10 kg of biltong/droëwors without an import permit.For 25 kg to 250 kg of meat or 10 to100 kg of biltong/droëwors per person, an RSA import permit and Animal Health Certificate is required.Raw pork (which includes wild pigs and biltong of wild pigs) must be accompanied by an RSA veterinary import permit.RSA veterinary permits can be obtained from Ina Labuschagne at Tel (0027 12) 319 7514/ -7414/ -7632/ -7503, fax (0027 12) 329 8292 / 319 7491, email InaL@nda.agric.za .