The Agricultural sector’s contribution to Namibia’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased from 4.2 per cent in 2019 to 6.7 per cent on average over the past two years.

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and Deputy Prime Minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, said this during the 16th Theo-Ben Gurirab Lecture Series held at Nkurenkuru in the Kavango West Region on Thursday.

“Even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, this increase in GDP shows that there is potential for growth moving forward in this sector. This is one sector where public private partnerships (PPP) have to be seriously considered,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.

She noted that while government encourages foreign investment, when it comes to PPP’s Namibians should take centre stage.

“Subsistence farmers can produce enough for their own consumption and still produce a surplus for selling on the markets to supplement their income and in so doing, assist with food supply and food security in the country,” she added.

It is therefore important that there is an increase in the productivity of subsistence agriculture by encouraging farmers to pursue sustainable growth of production through the use of improved inputs, fertiliser and agricultural implements to make agriculture a business.

Nandi-Ndaitwah further said Ethiopia’s Food Security Programme that combines conditional and unconditional income transfers with products has been hailed by experts as a success story in Africa.

“So has the Vulnerable Group Development Programme in Bangladesh that combines food security and nutrition,” she noted.

In Namibia, such programmes need a multifaceted approach involving government, both at regional and central level, the private sector and the farmers themselves, she concluded.

The 16th Lecture Series is held under the theme ‘The contribution of subsistence farming to food security in Namibia. The role Kavango West Region can play in achieving food security in the country.’

Source: The Namibian Press Agency