allAfrica.com: Namibia: Land Reform - Prospects and Challenges (Page 1 of 4)

Since independence, the Swapo Party-led government has faced many challenges in the distribution of land to landless Namibians.

This was caused by the racial skewed land distribution pattern the government inherited from the apartheid-colonial system to which 52 percent of land was declared as commercial land and 48 percent as communal land.

The commercial land was exclusively for 30 percent, white farming households, while communal land/reserve land accommodated 70 percent of the Namibian indigenous people.

In June 1991, a National Conference on Land Reforms was held in Windhoek, attended by all population groups of the Namibian nation to discuss Namibia's land question. The Conference reached consensus to redistribute land on "a compensatory willing-seller, willing-buyer basis", the process that was very slow, costly and cumbersome in practice.

However, progress was made after the government introduced "the National Poverty Reduction Action Programme" that aimed at "equitable distributions of land, access to land, promoting sustainable economic growth, reduce income inequalities and poverty and the implementation of redistribution of land reform". These programmes have been guided by the policy of national reconciliation and many other legislation that are in line with the SWAPO-Party Manifestos, NDP 2, NDP3 and Vision 2030.

This opinion piece is an attempt to analyze government efforts in the implementation process of National Poverty Reduction Action Programmes and possible prospects and challenges towards poverty reduction with reference to both the communal land reform and commercial land reform in Namibia.

Commercial Land Reform and distribution Progress has been achieved in the distribution of land to the landless Namibian people in the commercial sector. Since 1995, the State has budgeted N$20 million annually to purchase commercial farmland for resettlement purposes. The budget was increased to N$50 million in 2003 after the Swapo Party Congress in 2002 passed a resolution to increase the budget to speed up the process of land distribution to the needy people.

Since 2002, the government has acquired 100 farms of more than 745.9 ha in the commercial land on "willing seller willing buyer" at the cost on N$144.9 million.

The money was used for National Resettlement Programme [NRP] and for the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme [AALS] that benefited so far 167 families, 89 men and 78 women households.

The process is continuing as government now budgets N$50 million annually to buy more farms in the commercial area for land distribution and poverty reduction among the former disadvantaged population group.

Communal Land Reform

For the purpose of Communal Land Reform, an Act was promulgated and implemented in 2002 for the development of some parts of communal land into "small-scale commercial farming units" in Caprivi, Kavango, Ohangwena,

Omaheke, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto and Otjozondjupa regions where "4 million ha of under-utilized land in communal land was identified to develop and improve agricultural productivity in rural areas". So far, with the introduction of 12 communal land Boards, 1 061 new customary land rights, 3 095 existing customary rights, 60 new household rights and 17 existing household rights" were allocated under Permission To Occupy certificates.

Despite all these efforts in communal land reform, is there really progress in the development process of communal land to reduce poverty among the rural communities?

What has been the role of the government in the agricultural sector to promote sustainable economic growth, lower income inequalities and reduce poverty in rural areas?

What is the role of subsistence farmers in the mainstream of communal subsistence economy to reduce poverty and crate self-employment in the agro-pastoral industry in communal areas?

The Role of the Namibian Government In Sustaining Economic Growth

For the past 18 years, the government has made great improvement to improve the agricultural sector for both the communal and commercial land "to ensure that all Namibians have equitable access to land utilization and to be used equitable and significantly for food security at both household and national level".

The main purpose of doing so is to support sustainable growth of Namibia's economic growth while maintaining and improving land capacity to add value to Namibia's Gross Domestic Production [GDP] output that stands currently at 4.8 percent in 2007, an increase of 4.6 percent compared to 2006.

In other sectors such as fishing, mining, tourism and construction great strides were recorded, a decline was recorded in the agricultural sector in livestock marketing as a result of harsh climatic changes that put pressure on farmers both in the commercial and communal areas to have short falls in income accrued from livestock in the market.

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