Namibia country report

idea was to grow crops and sell them for a living, but was not progressing at all towards thatgoal due to the water supply problems. In fact, life on a commercial farm was better for him.Through the MAWF, government provided draught animals and ploughing training for thebeneficiaries at Skoonheid. The animals were intended to serve the entire community, butinstead were allocated to only some members. This was not because they were any morepowerful or well connected than others, but rather, the animals went to those who did nothave the cash needed to buy diesel for running the government tractor. LISUP providedseed but no fertiliser.The MLR continues to provide regular budgetary support to official group resettlementschemes. This is meant to be spent on clearing land, preparing land for crop production,irrigating crops, drilling boreholes, purchasing fencing materials and building houses. TheMinistry has not set a cutoff date for providing this support (Meliczek 2008: 11). Individualresettlement beneficiaries and settlers on unofficial group farms do not receive this postsettlementsupport.6.2.2 LivestockGenerally, individual ownership of livestock on group resettlement schemes in both regionswas low. Normally, beneficiaries accumulated small numbers of livestock while working oncommercial farms. Many had to sell these after losing their employment and had no meansto sustain themselves. Others were able to build on their accumulated livestock, albeit verymodestly.At Drimiopsis and Skoonheid, 5 of the 24 and 11 of the 21 respondents owned livestock.At Drimiopsis, 2 of the 5 livestock owners owned 90% of all the livestock, and the other 3each had 10 or fewer head. At Skoonheid, 1 livestock owner owned nearly 60% of all thelivestock, and the other 10 had 10 or fewer head of each species, i.e. goats, sheep and cattle.At both schemes, those with the highest numbers of livestock had all three of these types,cattle being the main type. Omaheke is generally not suitable for sheep and goats, whereascattle fare better and even thrive there.At Skoonheid, Benjamin bought 3 goats with his pension money. These increased to 6 butthen decreased to 2 in 2008. One reason for this loss was the presence of a poisonous plantat Skoonheid referred to as slangkop (snake head). Benjamin said that most people therehad lost their few head of small stock to this plant. Skoonheid was said to be suitable forcattle and sheep, but not for goats.Alfons had virtually the same experience as Benjamin at Skoonheid. He started to workon a commercial farm in the mid 1980s at the age of 23. When the owner sold the farm togovernment in December 1998, he gave Alfons 2 goats. In his capacity as government’scaretaker of the farm, Alfons worked in the established garden for his own benefit. With therevenues generated from selling his produce, he bought another 8 goats. When he settled atSkoonheid in 2000, he had 36 goats, including a few donated by the MAWF. At the time of142 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)