Namibia country report

Interview with FURS beneficiaries in Hardap.Part-time FURS beneficiaries were able to supplement their farming income with incomefrom their off-farm employment, whereas farming was the main source of income for fulltimefarmers. None of the full-time farmers sampled performed any piece work to generateadditional income.An example of a part-time farmer combining two sources of income was Matthias inOmaheke who supplemented his farming income with income from his long-distance taxibusiness and vice versa. He made money out of farming, but when a mini-bus broke andhe had cash from a livestock sale, he would use it to get the mini-bus back on the road.Conversely, if he needed money for his farming operation, during a dry year for example, hemade use of income generated by his taxi business. He said that there was no other way tosurvive. He would not have been able to continue farming cattle without the taxi businessand vice versa. His income from farming was simply not enough.During very dry years, government distributed drought aid to certain target groups. Thiswas also the case in December 2008 when some beneficiaries in Omaheke received droughtaid. Maria received 25 kg of mielie-meal and two bottles of cooking oil. She never appliedfor this support. Her understanding was that this aid was for people “what nie lewe het nie”(who have no life), i.e. pensioners and people without income.112 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)