The European Union (EU) has donated information technology (IT) equipment worth N.dollars 4.5 million to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform aimed at assisting livestock farmers in northern communal areas of Namibia.
Speaking at the handover ceremony here yesterday, EU Ambassador to Namibia Sinikka Antila said the equipment donated is geared to support the ministry in implementing and strengthening of livestock identification and traceability systems that will generate a commodity-based trade (CBT) approach and foster coordination to control and eradicate transboundary animal diseases.
“More than 70 per cent of the Namibian population depends directly or indirectly on livestock and rangeland resources for their economic wellbeing and food security, however this is affected by rainfall, poor agronomist conditions, inadequate animal husbandry practices and significant market restrictions due to the presence of foot and mouth diseases, hence this called for concerted effort in order to improve the performance of the livestock sector in northern areas,” she noted.
Antila further indicated that since 2017 the EU signed a financing agreement valued at N.dollars 20 million with the agriculture ministry to implement the 11th European Development Fund (EDF11) to support the livestock sector in northern areas covering the Zambezi, Kavango East, Kavango West, Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Oshana, Omusati and Kunene regions.
At the same event, the ministry’s Acting Executive Director, Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata said the Livestock Support Programme aims to promote entrepreneurship and enhance the livelihood farming communities in a sustainable way in the northern areas, stressing that the agriculture sector remains central to the lives of the majority of Namibians.
“The programme was developed as one of the value chains of the ministry to address the beef value chain in northern areas as the Namibian livestock production in communal areas is faced with numerous challenges such as limited market access and animal health disease outbreak among others,” he noted.
The equipment includes 95 laptops, 80 computers, 30 network printers, four heavy duty printers, eight projectors, 20 external hard drives and 20 USBs.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
