Small-stock scheme report finalised

A PENDING decision by the Ministry of Agriculture about an export levy on live sheep will only be taken after a draft report on the small livestock scheme has been finalised.

The draft report must be finalised and submitted to the Minister of Agriculture by November 30. According to the weekly newsletter of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), a decision on the levy will only come after that date.A meeting chaired by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Paul Smit, with the NAU and a representative of the Namibia National Farmers’ Union (NNFU) took place last week to discuss the draft report compiled by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC).Representatives of all four exporting abattoirs and the Meat Board also attended.A smaller committee, consisting of the chairmen of the LPO and Abattoir’s Association as well as the General Manager of the Meat Board, together with Nico Weck of PWC and Deputy Minister Smit, will now meet weekly to monitor progress with the finalisation of the report, according to the NAU.Court session for valuation rolls THE hearing of objections against the valuation of agricultural land for land-tax purposes was held in Windhoek last week.Not all objections could be heard at the valuation court as numerous objectors (land owners) did not receive their notifications in time.These cases were postponed to February 19 next year.Only about 30 per cent of the cases were concluded.Several objections regarding the valuation of land were corrected.During the court proceedings it became clear that there is great confusion about the method to determine land values.Neighbouring farms had values differing by 150 per cent and this was “even for the court a great surprise,” the NAU weekly newsletter stated.In one case the valuation was lowered by 60 per cent while the neighbouring farmers still have to continue paying land tax on the increased valuations.Magistrate Rina Horn was assisted by one official each of the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement and the Ministry of Agriculture.Budget for agriculture too small THE Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Dr Nickey Iyambo, last week told the National Assembly that the agricultural sector should at least receive 10 per cent from the National Budget.He was replying to a question of the opposition.The topic also surfaced at this year’s NAU congress, where speakers like FNB MD Reinhold Rukoro told the congress that Government should allocate at least 10 per cent of its budget to agriculture.The heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2003 endorsed this by means of the Maputo Declaration.At this stage the Ministry of Agriculture only receives 3,6 per cent of the National Budget, of which 2,5 per cent is for the agricultural sector and the remaining 1,1 per cent is for the water sector.New land report published THE Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) published a new report on land issues last Friday.The report – ‘No resettlement available – an assessment of the expropriation principle and its impact on land reform in Namibia’ – was written by Willem Odendaal and Professor.Sidney Harring.Copies are available at the LAC.Lecture on stud breeding methods ANTHONY Coates from Australia is holding a lecture in Grootfontein and Windhoek about modern selection methods for farmers and stud breeders.The lecture will be presented on Monday, November 19 at 10h00 at the NG Church hall at Grootfontein and in Windhoek on Wednesday, November 21 at the Brahman/Simmentaler House at the Windhoek Showgrounds.AGM of Agra this month AGRA, the agricultural co-operative, will hold its annual general meeting on November 29 at 09h00 at the SKW Hall in Windhoek.The annual report will be presented at the meeting.Land transfers increase in South Africa ABOUT 20 per cent of agricultural land in some municipal areas in the Free State has already moved to new black owners, Free State Agriculture said on Monday.The manager of Free State Agriculture, Henk Vermeulen, said a survey would be done within its structures to find out exactly how much agricultural land had already moved to black ownership.”From certain feedback it seems that the state’s assumptions are wrong that only three per cent of land has been transferred.”Vermeulen said preliminary statistics indicated that there were some municipal and district municipal areas in the Free State where 12, 17, and 20 per cent of land had been transferred to black owners.He said some statistics were old and needed to be verified.Vermeulen said land offered to the department of land affairs for land reform purposes would now be documented and discussed at the fortnightly meeting with land affairs.”This will neutralise accusations against agriculture,” said Vermeulen.According to the weekly newsletter of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), a decision on the levy will only come after that date.A meeting chaired by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Paul Smit, with the NAU and a representative of the Namibia National Farmers’ Union (NNFU) took place last week to discuss the draft report compiled by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC).Representatives of all four exporting abattoirs and the Meat Board also attended.A smaller committee, consisting of the chairmen of the LPO and Abattoir’s Association as well as the General Manager of the Meat Board, together with Nico Weck of PWC and Deputy Minister Smit, will now meet weekly to monitor progress with the finalisation of the report, according to the NAU.Court session for valuation rolls THE hearing of objections against the valuation of agricultural land for land-tax purposes was held in Windhoek last week.Not all objections could be heard at the valuation court as numerous objectors (land owners) did not receive their notifications in time.These cases were postponed to February 19 next year.Only about 30 per cent of the cases were concluded.Several objections regarding the valuation of land were corrected.During the court proceedings it became clear that there is great confusion about the method to determine land values.Neighbouring farms had values differing by 150 per cent and this was “even for the court a great surprise,” the NAU weekly newsletter stated. In one case the valuation was lowered by 60 per cent while the neighbouring farmers still have to continue paying land tax on the increased valuations.Magistrate Rina Horn was assisted by one official each of the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement and the Ministry of Agriculture. Budget for agriculture too small THE Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Dr Nickey Iyambo, last week told the National Assembly that the agricultural sector should at least receive 10 per cent from the National Budget.He was replying to a question of the opposition.The topic also surfaced at this year’s NAU congress, where speakers like FNB MD Reinhold Rukoro told the congress that Government should allocate at least 10 per cent of its budget to agriculture.The heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2003 endorsed this by means of the Maputo Declaration.At this stage the Ministry of Agriculture only receives 3,6 per cent of the National Budget, of which 2,5 per cent is for the agricultural sector and the remaining 1,1 per cent is for the water sector.New land report published THE Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) published a new report on land issues last Friday.The report – ‘No resettlement available – an assessment of the expropriation principle and its impact on land reform in Namibia’ – was written by Willem Odendaal and Professor.Sidney Harring.Copies are available at the LAC.Lecture on stud breeding methods ANTHONY Coates from Australia is holding a lecture in Grootfontein and Windhoek about modern selection methods for farmers and stud breeders.The lecture will be presented on Monday, November 19 at 10h00 at the NG Church hall at Grootfontein and in Windhoek on Wednesday, November 21 at the Brahman/Simmentaler House at the Windhoek Showgrounds. AGM of Agra this month AGRA, the agricultural co-operative, will hold its annual general meeting on November 29 at 09h00 at the SKW Hall in Windhoek.The an
nual report will be presented at the meeting.Land transfers increase in South Africa ABOUT 20 per cent of agricultural land in some municipal areas in the Free State has already moved to new black owners, Free State Agriculture said on Monday.The manager of Free State Agriculture, Henk Vermeulen, said a survey would be done within its structures to find out exactly how much agricultural land had already moved to black ownership.”From certain feedback it seems that the state’s assumptions are wrong that only three per cent of land has been transferred.”Vermeulen said preliminary statistics indicated that there were some municipal and district municipal areas in the Free State where 12, 17, and 20 per cent of land had been transferred to black owners.He said some statistics were old and needed to be verified.Vermeulen said land offered to the department of land affairs for land reform purposes would now be documented and discussed at the fortnightly meeting with land affairs.”This will neutralise accusations against agriculture,” said Vermeulen.