Namibia country report

projects. This is meant to be spent on preparing land for crop production, clearing land,irrigating, drilling boreholes, purchasing fencing materials and constructing houses. TheMLR has not set a cutoff date for providing such support (Meliczek 2008: 11).Ongoing government support to group resettlement schemes has probably contributed tothe fact that these schemes have not recorded significant dropout rates. To the contrary,many of these schemes, including Drimiopsis and Skoonheid (two of the LaLR study sitesin Omaheke Region), have attracted outsiders in the form of illegal settlers and informalsettlements (ibid.: 10).Since most group resettlement schemes continue to be dependent on government financialsupport, a rethink on group schemes has taken place in the MLR and the Ministry is nolonger promoting them (ibid.: 12).2.5.2 small-scale commercial farmsCurrently, small-scale commercial farming or the Farm Unit Resettlement Scheme (FURS)is the most prominent component of redistributive land reform. This model entails acquiringand subdividing large-scale commercial farms, and allocating portions or units to individualbeneficiaries according to allocation plans developed by land use planners in the MLR. TheLand Reform Advisory Commission has recommended that the units allocated should notbe smaller than 1 000 ha in Namibia’s northern regions where rainfall is higher, and notsmaller than 3 000 ha in the more arid south comprising Hardap and Karas Regions. Toqualify for resettlement, beneficiaries may not have more than 150 large-stock units (LSU)or the small-stock equivalent thereof. In 2004 the average sizes of the units allocated toFURS farmers were 2 138 ha in the southern half of the country and 1 200 ha in the morefertile northern regions (PTT 2005b: 40).Cattle farming in arid Hardap.Cattle farming in more fertile Omaheke.Livelihoods after Land Reform: Namibia country report (2010) ● 25