Namibia country report

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A list provided by Agribank in October 2007 showed that 23 commercial farms had beenbought under the AALS in Mariental District and 24 in Maltahöhe District. Forty per centof the AALS farmers interviewed were part-time farmers. Half of these had farmed oncommunal land before buying a farm, while 30% had kept livestock on commercial farms.3.2 OmahekeOmaheke Region is located in eastern Namibia, bordering Botswana. Spanning an area of8 461 200 ha, it is the fifth largest region of Namibia. Almost 50% or 3 543 044 ha of land inOmaheke is registered under freehold title, and the remainder is communal land. In 2001the freehold area consisted of approximately 800 commercial farms (MAWF 2001).The agro-ecological zones in which Omaheke and Hardap Regions fall are very different.Omaheke is in a summer rainfall area. Average annual rainfall decreases in a north-southdirection, ranging from as low as 250 mm per annum in the extreme south of the region(Aminuis Constituency) to between 350 mm and 400 mm in the areas north of Gobabis (theregion’s municipal centre, located roughly in the middle of the region). Rainfall is confinedto the months of December to April, the remaining seven months being dry (NPC 2006a: 1).Omaheke is predominantly a savannah environment in which Terminalia combretum andAcacia savannahs are the dominant types of vegetation. Forest and woodland savannahsof the northern Kalahari, camel thorn savannahs of the central Kalahari and mixed shrubvegetation of the southern Kalahari are the region’s dominant vegetation zones (ibid.: 5).Approximately 90% of Omaheke is characterised as “Kalahari Sands Plateau, stabilisedsand drift with few pans [and an] average growing period of 61-90 days”, but a very shortdependable growing period of 6 days (Coetzee 1999: 42). 12 Therefore Omaheke as a whole isregarded as having low suitability for crop cultivation (Mendelsohn 2006: 29). Consequently,rainfed agriculture is very risky whereas extensive cattle ranching predominates in termsof land use. Omaheke has some of the best grazing areas in the country. Inhabitants referto their region as “cattle country” and claim to produce the best beef in Namibia. Carryingcapacities range from 15 to 30 kg live mass per hectare or 12 to 24 ha per LSU. In the areaselected for this LaLR study, the carrying capacity is 12 ha per LSU (ibid.).In recent years, many commercial farmers have diversified out of agriculture into gamefarming, hunting and tourism activities such as running guest farms and lodges. No figuresare available for Omaheke to quantify the extent of this process, but anecdotal evidencesuggests that the increase in non-agricultural economic activities has been substantial inthe freehold farming sector. These non-agricultural activities complement incomes derivedfrom cattle farming.12“In general, the growing period is the time during a growing season when both air temperature and soilmoisture permit crop growth. The length of a growing period is formally defined as the number of daysduring which precipitation exceeds half the potential evapotranspiration, plus the number of days toevapo transpire an assumed 100mm … of water from excess precipitation.” (de Pauw and Coetzee 1999: 27)54 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)
Plowing for crop cultivation at Skoonheid group resettlement scheme, Omaheke.3.2.1 Land redistributionThe most recent data suggests that a total of 192 farms amounting to 872 230 ha of freeholdland previously owned by white commercial farmers has been transferred to previouslydisadvantaged Namibians in Omaheke since Independence. 13 Only 37% or 71 of these farms,amounting to 356 357 ha, have been acquired by the MLR for resettlement or small-scalecommercial farming. Sixteen of the 71 were transferred to the MLR from the Ministryof Agriculture, Water and Rural Development, 14 while 55 were bought under the WSWBprinciple as from 1991. The remaining 121 farms, covering 515 873 ha in total, have beenbought by previously disadvantaged Namibians under the AALS. In all, approximately onequarter of all the freehold land in Omaheke has been transferred to previously disadvantagedNamibians since Independence.The minimum farm size for land reform beneficiaries in Omaheke has been set at 1 000 ha.However, only 20% of the approximately 531 official beneficiaries in the region have accessto more than 1 000 ha, as Table 6 below shows.13Reliable data on the NRP is notoriously difficult to obtain. Unless otherwise indicated, data used inthis section is based on the NAU database on land acquisitions of 2008 and the MLR’s “Masterlist ofResettlement Beneficiaries for Omaheke Region, 2008”.14Renamed as the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in 2005.Livelihoods after Land Reform: Section Namibia A ● 3. country Regional report Contexts (2010) ● 55
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© Land, Environment and Developmen
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Leading the Fieldis a publication o
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AcknowledgementsThe three-and-a-hal
Page 17 and 18: 2 LAND REFORM ANDPOVERTY: NATIONALP
Page 19 and 20: Poverty in Omaheke.Poverty in Harda
Page 21: the concern was expressed that “i
Page 24 and 25: As will be discussed below, a numbe
Page 28 and 29: from Germany in 1907 (Werner forthc
Page 31: 2.4 Land reform and rural developme
Page 34 and 35: The Agricultural (Commercial) Land
Page 38 and 39: Policy (RoN 1998: 1). What defined
Page 40: The determination of a viable unit
Page 44 and 45: Cabinet Minister who argued that th
Page 47 and 48: in Hardap criticised government for
Page 49 and 50: A farm in Hardap - enforcing privat
Page 51 and 52: The process from land acquisition t
Page 53 and 54: Herero traditional leaders ascribed
Page 55 and 56: Table 5: Institutions involved in l
Page 59 and 60: 3 REGIONAL CONTEXTS3.1 HardapSpanni
Page 61: Namibia as a whole has declined ste
Page 69: Bernard bought a farm through the A
Page 72 and 73: All of the AALS farmers surveyed in
Page 74 and 75: Marketing channels for weaners in O
Page 78 and 79: The tight financial position of som
Page 80 and 81: 4.3 Typology of livelihood strategi
Page 82 and 83: he had about 600 in 2008. In additi
Page 84 and 85: The second stage of the ‘cyclical
Page 86 and 87: did not offer alternative land, but
Page 88 and 89: 4.4.4 The ‘broekskeur en vasbyt
Page 91: in town is too fast and one is not
Page 94 and 95: Table 9: Age and gender distributio
Page 96 and 97: Figure 1: Education levels in FURS
Page 98 and 99: Only two beneficiaries in the whole
Page 100: 5.1.3 Settlers’ relationship with
Page 103 and 104: stated that they would be able to f
Page 105 and 106: cows of all three farmers were serv
Page 108 and 109: Table 19: Gross incomes of FURS liv
Page 110 and 111: stock theft there. The closest poli
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5.2.5 MarketingTable 21 summarises
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the remainder of the year, goats ar
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5.2.7 SkillsAlthough many FURS bene
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The most common crops grown were ma
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5.5 Livelihood trajectoriesBased on
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Previously a part-time farmer in a
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of the allocated unit, but the numb
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e accommodated by the National Rese
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6 GROUPRESETTLEMENTSCHEMESOfficiall
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Low levels of education further lim
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William did not really want to farm
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age, they decided that he had worke
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which was too far away to visit as
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Expenses for the group scheme farme
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phoned the MLR in Gobabis to send a
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they never learnt to save. They sho
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idea was to grow crops and sell the
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At Bernafey, 7 beneficiaries involv
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Housing at BernafeyHousing at Drimi
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6.3.2 Other livelihood strategiesBe
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6.3.2.3 Piece workWork on other far
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A shop at Drimiopsisshop as a livel
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When Alfons settled at Skoonheid in
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Farm workerLoses job / unemployedBe
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there. Instead, the MLRR advised hi
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the major issues identified in sect
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LaLR fieldwork at Bernafey.LaLR stu
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such external support was available
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formal lease agreement. Many people
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communal areas at minimal costs for
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study sample also complained about
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The National Resettlement Policy pr
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REFERENCESAbrahams, K. 1982. “The
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Namibia Agricultural Union. 2003. A
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Livelihoods after Land Reform: Nami
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Namibia country report

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