STAFF WRITER
MOST of the government’s agro-processing projects dotted across Namibia are facing a plethora of challenges and are struggling to operate at full scale. This was revealed by the chairperson of the National Council Standing Committee on Public Accounts and Economy, Peter Kazongominja in a report to parliament. The committee went on a follow-up regional oversight visits to agro- processing development projects in //Kharas, Oshana, Zambezi, Kavango-West, Otjozondjupa and Oshana Regions from 13-24 January 2025.
Prior to the follow-up visit, the committee was briefed by the then Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) and Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA) on the progress made as well as on the attempts to implement the Committees recommendations. “ During the follow-up visits on the projects in the //Karas region, the Committee observed vandalism and abandonment of the projects due to non-payment of water and electricity by NIDA. The Committee learned that Naute Irrigation Project is run with a petty cash of N$ 5,000.00 (Five Thousand Namibia Dollars) per month, which is not sufficient for the basic necessitiesrequired to efficiently run operations at the farm,” Kazongominja said. He said the committee also found that the Naute Kristel Distillery owned by a private tenant still receives free raw materials (grapes and dates) from the farm and use free water and electricity from the farm.
Kazongominja said the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA) failed to explain how government is benefitting from such an arrangement. “ In Otjozondjupa region, the Committee observed that there was no running water at the BoimassProject in Otjiwarongo, Otjiwarongo SME park, and Omulunga SME Park in Grootfontein due to non-payment by NIDA. The warehouse at the Biomass Project containing animal feeds, maize grains and the animal feed crushing machineswas still found open since the last visit in 2023. Other machines were housed in an old unsecured warehouse outside the project vicinity posing the risk of machines being stolen,” the committee said.
The committee added that the Manjeha Crocodile farm in Zambezi Region, fence that was constructed by National Youth Services at a cost of over N$ 1,2 million last year was vandalised. The parliament committee also flagged challenged in the Kavango West region. “The Committee was informed that 98-99% of the cattle in the farm has been tagged. The Committee observed that the farm only has 52 bulls for 4001 cows that is not a sufficient ratio as per standard best practise of one bull per 25 cows,” the Kazongominja led committee said.
According to the committee the Ondangwa Tannery project has not been operating for the past 11years due to upgrades that were done halfway and stopped due to lack of funds. “The committee still observed that, there was no water and electricity at the site which makes it difficult for the care takers to start and clean the machines from time to time to reduce the risk of the machines being damaged. There are drums are stillstanding with water and skin hides since the last operation, which poses possible damage to the drum,” the committee said
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