Tulipamwe project to grow Eenhana community

A TOTAL of 44 women are cultivating their livelihood from the 16 gardens of the Tulipamwe community and Chinese agricultural project near Eenhana, funded by the Spanish government and supported by Chinese investors.

President Hifikepunye Pohamba last week officially opened the project from which 64 households benefit directly.The project boasts with appropriate technology including a drip-irrigation system, solar panels, water tanks and a borehole. It also has an important component of horticulture produce value-addition, marketing and business development and training.Production has already started at the project, funded to the tune of N$2,5 million. It is designed to make maximum use of the available land to produce a variety of vegetables, while also rearing chickens and ducks.Pohamba last Wednesday said the acquisition of skills by local members of the community is important because it will enable them to establish sustainable and profitable agricultural projects in the country.’This, in turn, will enable our country to reduce the importation of agricultural products such as potatoes, onions, green peppers, cabbage, tomatoes and other vegetables that are currently imported into the country in huge quantities every year,’ he said.The government has taken deliberate steps to establish the needed infrastructure that will support the local horticulture industry to be able to cultivate large quantities of various products, such as mahangu, maize, groundnuts and vegetables for local consumption.For this reason, Pohamba said, the Government has funded the construction of silos for the storage of cereals at places such as Rundu, Omuthiya, Tsandi and elsewhere in the country.The government also plans to fund the planned construction of agro-processing centres at Ongwediva and Rundu.Each of these agro-processing centres, Pohamba said, is budgeted to cost more than N$100 million.These two facilities will provide the necessary infrastructure such as cold rooms, sorting and cleaning areas, as well as packaging facilities. – Own report and Nampa