Namibia country report

communal areas at minimal costs for infrastructural development. The main cost wouldbe compensation for the farm owners, much like the FURS entails. This option would assistpoorer communal stock owners who feel that their access to grazing is severely constrained(RoN 1991: 344). Two other options were group farming and co-operative ranching. However,it was pointed out that getting the members of group farming projects to make corporatemanagement decisions is problematic, and it was said that very few group ranches survive.Based on the current research, it also appears that the vast majority of FURS beneficiariesare unlikely to buy into any group-based farming approach. Another model, which hasbeen tried in South Africa but not widely discussed, entails joint ventures.8.2 Joint venturesJoint venture projects have been a common feature of land and agrarian reform in SouthAfrica for some time. These usually involve, as one party, former farm workers who haveland rights or are land reform beneficiaries eligible for a government subsidy, and as theother party, an established commercial farmer or company. The motivation for enteringinto a joint venture for agricultural production is that land reform beneficiaries have accessto capital and land, while established commercial farmers or companies have expertisethat empowers the land reform beneficiaries (Mayson 2003: 1).There are arguments for and against joint ventures which need not be discussed here, but inany case it should be borne in mind that partnerships between resettlement beneficiaries andthe private sector (i.e. commercial farmers with donor funding) have been virtually nonexistentin the Namibian land reform process. In fact, the involvement of the commercialfarming sector in the resettlement programme through joint ventures appears not to havebeen contemplated at all when the MLR drafted the National Land Reform Policy.Should joint ventures come to be regarded as a viable option for broadening the range oflivelihood options for resettlement beneficiaries, the South African model of equity sharingcould be considered.Equity sharing entails that resettlement beneficiaries on a farm pool their grants and investin the farm by buying equity or shares in the farm. Typically, the beneficiaries and thecommercial farmer form a trust through which they invest funds in their joint venture.The beneficiaries, while continuing to work as resettlement beneficiaries, become entitledto representation on the board and thereby participate in strategic decision-making onmanagement. One of the most important management decisions is approving the budget,which includes setting wages and wage increases.Joint ventures offer several positive effects which other models do not offer: they enablebeneficiaries not only to remain employed but also to share in decision-making and profits,which tends to increase labour productivity, and they retain the commercial farmer’smanagerial skills to the benefit of all, while simultaneously transferring managerial skills tothe beneficiaries through a capacity-building programme.Livelihoods after Land Reform: Section Namibia B ● 8. country Policy Implications report (2010) ● 171