Govt buys seven resettlement farms for N$91m

The land reform ministry acquired seven farms for resettlement - with a combined size of 33 822 hectares - at a cost of N$91.4 million during the 2023/2024 financial year.

In the ministry’s budget motivation speech, deputy minister Anna Shiweda said funding constraints and market price considerations limited the scale and speed of land acquisition.

During the 2023/2024 financial year, 23 beneficiaries were resettled, of which one unit was allocated to four generational farmworkers, she said.

Shiweda added that the land reform programme remains critical for Namibia’s socioeconomic transformation. “It is a programme aimed at rectifying the past imbalances of land distribution.” It allows beneficiaries to be self-reliant in their farming operations and enter the mainstream of the Namibian economy, she noted.

“In order to achieve this objective, the beneficiaries are supported and capacitated through pre- and post-settlement support services.”

Land conference resolutions

Shiweda said the resettlement programme addresses land acquisition for resettlement purposes for previously disadvantaged Namibians, including special social groups.

“The ministry is tasked with the implementation of the resolutions of the second national land conference,” she said. Of the 176 resolutions taken at the conference, 16 were already in existence prior to its second edition, while 25 resolutions are fully implemented and 134 are ongoing, the deputy minister said.

Meanwhile, one resolution – for government to conduct a study on the current land tenure system to determine its impact and productivity for sustainable land management - is pending resource mobilisation, she said.

A high-level committee, comprising various stakeholders and chaired by the prime minister, is charged with implementing these resolutions.

N$270 million

For the 2024/25 financial year, a total of N$270 million has been allocated for the land reform and resettlement programme. Shiweda said this proposed allocation aims to support the land purchase sub-programme, the flexible land tenure system and integrated regional land use plans for the Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Ohangwena, Kunene, Erongo and Khomas regions.

It will also assist in the ongoing resettlement sub-programme and development of land in communal areas.

According to her, one of the transformational reforms envisaged for 2024/2025 is the tabling of the Land Bill, which is now on the

agenda for deliberation.

“The Bill will empower the ministry to manage communal and commercial agricultural land through one legal instrument.”