Namibia country report

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4.3 Typology of livelihood strategies in relationto land reformMost full-time AALS farmers in Hardap and Omaheke appeared to be focusing on landbasedlivelihood strategies involving livestock production. In the usually arid western partsof Hardap, AALS farmers tend to farm only with small stock, i.e. sheep and/or goats, whereasthe pattern of higher rainfall in the eastern parts of the region enable farmers there tofarm with both large and small stock, i.e. cattle as well as sheep and/or goats. In Omahekethe full-time farmers focus predominantly on farming with large livestock as a land-basedlivelihood strategy. Some combine large-stock production with small-stock production.Livestock production for part-time farmers in both regions is similar to that of full-timefarmers. However, part-time farmers seem to have an advantage over full-time farmers inthat they are employed elsewhere, e.g. by the government, and therefore earn additionalmoney which they can use to cover operational costs on the farm.4.4 Livelihood trajectoriesThe majority of AALS farmers have one thing in common, i.e. they had previously farmed inone or more communal areas. Virtually all of them have experienced communal farmingin one way or another before buying their own farm, whether growing up in a communalarea and witnessing farming practices there or farming themselves in a communal area.As indicated earlier, 60% of all the AALS farmers interviewed stated that they had appliedfor an AALS loan because they wanted to get out of the communal areas. The main reasonsfor this were that their livestock herds had grown too big for communal land, and relatedto this, they were not able to exercise any control over their own livestock on communalland.While AALS farmers have much in common in terms of farming origins, their life histories,personal experiences and therefore their development paths as farmers are dissimilar.The livelihood trajectories (or pathways) discussed in this section have been formulated inorder to categorise the development paths of AALS farmers in an attempt to understandthe different paths better.Based on its findings and observations on the AALS in Hardap and Omaheke, the researchteam developed four livelihood trajectories pertaining to AALS farmers. The first is the‘ideal’ trajectory, which reflects the ideal development path for a farmer under the AALS.This trajectory corresponds closely to the AALS policy objectives. Because personal andfarming experiences hardly ever accord with what is considered ideal, it was necessaryto capture deviations from the ideal, hence the ‘cyclical’, ‘part-time’ and ‘broekskeur envasbyt’ trajectories. There is also an ‘expansionist’ trajectory, which represents the aspirationsof most AALS farmers, but none of them has achieved it as yet, so it is not discussed inthis report.72 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)
4.4.1 The ‘ideal’ trajectoryLivestock owner in a communal areaBuys a farm through the AALSAlmost immediately becomes a successful medium- or large-scale commercial farmerThe ‘ideal’ trajectory reflects the model AALS development path as envisioned by AALSpolicy. In short, this trajectory pertains to a full-time communal farmer or someone whoworks elsewhere on a full-time basis, who keeps a large herd of livestock on communalland. Farmers in this category purchased commercial farmland with the assistance of theAALS to free up space for smaller, upcoming communal farmers as envisaged by AALSpolicy, and/or they moved out of the communal area due to ever-increasing competitionwith other livestock farmers there for grazing. The ‘ideal’ trajectory entails that the newcommercial farmer becomes a medium to large commercial farmer, and one who neverdefaults on loan repayments to Agribank and produces enough to cover costs. In fact, thiscategory of farmer is so successful that he/she is able to repay the entire Agribank loan wellwithin the prescribed 25 years set by AALS policy.The ideal is not commonly attained in any endeavour or aspect of life, but some of theAALS farmers are close to attaining this ‘ideal’ livelihood trajectory.Johannes and his wife Christina lived alone on a farm of approximately 4 100 ha situated30 km south of Gochas, a town on the Auob River in Hardap. Occasionally their grandchildrenstayed with them. Neither of them came from Hardap: Johannes was born andraised in Aries in the Northern Cape in South Africa, and Christina was born in Omaruru andraised at Okombahe, both in today’s Erongo Region, Namibia. Johannes came to Namibia asa young man and settled in Omaruru where he met and married Christina. Both havingcommunal farming experience, Johannes and Christina decided to farm in the Okombahecommunal area. Seeking additional income, Johannes found employment at Uis Iscor tinmine in Erongo where he worked for 16 years while Christina continued farming. Theyfarmed mainly with goats and karakul sheep, with some success until karakul pelt pricesfell in the 1980s. When the mine closed in 1990, Johannes decided to go on early pensionand the mine gave him a retrenchment package. Immediately after receiving the payout,he and Christina decided to become commercial farmers. They wanted to farm with sheepand were looking for a suitable farm. Through an agent they bought the farm in Hardap.Johannes put most of his pension money down as security for an AALS loan. After somedelay from Agribank’s side, the loan was granted and the couple started farming in 1992.Johannes’s livelihood trajectory as a commercial farmer reads like a fairytale. He repaidthe bank in full within 13 years of obtaining the loan. He also put all of his children throughuniversity in either Namibia or South Africa. He farmed mainly with dorper sheep, of whichLivelihoods Section after B ● 4. Land Affirmative Reform: Namibia Action Loan country Scheme report (AALS) (2010) ● 73
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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
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2 LAND REFORM ANDPOVERTY: NATIONALP
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Poverty in Omaheke.Poverty in Harda
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the concern was expressed that “i
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As will be discussed below, a numbe
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from Germany in 1907 (Werner forthc
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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 and 62: Namibia as a whole has declined ste
Page 63: Plowing for crop cultivation at Sko
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 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
Page 112 and 113: 5.2.5 MarketingTable 21 summarises
Page 114 and 115: the remainder of the year, goats ar
Page 116 and 117: 5.2.7 SkillsAlthough many FURS bene
Page 118: The most common crops grown were ma
Page 121: 5.5 Livelihood trajectoriesBased on
Page 124 and 125: Previously a part-time farmer in a
Page 126: of the allocated unit, but the numb
Page 129 and 130: 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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