Namibia country report

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4.4.4 The ‘broekskeur en vasbyt’ trajectoryThe ‘broekskeur en vasbyt’ or ‘neither here nor there’ trajectory is probably reflective of thevast majority of especially full-time AALS farmers, not only in Hardap and Omaheke butthroughout Namibia. In short, farmers in this category find it difficult to make ends meet,but manage to repay the AALS loan annually, albeit with “the mercy of the heavens above”.Wilfred’s story illustrates this situation. He owns a farm of 11 000 ha which he purchasedwith an AALS loan in 1998, located 60 km south of Mariental off the main road to Keetmanshoop.He grew up with his Bondelswart parents in the Gibeon area where they farmedcommunally. When he finished school he took a job as a technician in Keetmanshoop. Beinginterested in farming, he started gathering sheep, goats and cattle which he kept in theWarmbad communal area. There it became difficult to accommodate more than one personon a piece of land. His work as a technician required him to travel often, and he found itincreasingly difficult to keep control over his livestock, with the result that he sufferedmany losses due to theft and disease. He then rented commercial land for two years close tothe town of Karasburg, and he duly received a job transfer to be based in that town. When itbecame too expensive to pay for grazing there, he moved back to the Warmbad communalarea where he bought more livestock. At the beginning of 1996 he was transferred fromKarasburg to Maltahöhe.In 1995 he had decided to buy a farm through the AALS. He actively searched for a farm topurchase in Hardap, and started negotiating with the owner of the farm that he favoured. HisAALS loan was approved in October 1997, and in February 1998 the farm was transferredinto his name. The previous owner set the price for the farm and Wilfred sent the detailsto Agribank in Mariental. The bank agreed to the price and set the amount to be loaned.Wilfred resigned from his job as a technician on the grounds that farming is a full-timeresponsibility. He moved onto the farm in May 1998. Agribank did not inspect the farm toascertain that he had 150 head of cattle or 800 SSU as is required before a loan is granted.Wilfred could not recall whether the bank inspected the infrastructure on the farm beforegranting him the loan, but on his own close inspection he found most of the infrastructure to bedilapidated and in need of replacement. The farm had five boreholes, but the water supplyhad proved problematic in that the supply from the stronger boreholes was salty and notsuitable for animal and human consumption. While the other boreholes yielded suitablewater for consumption, they were very weak and often dried up during periods of severedrought.In 2008, Wilfred owned 125 head of cattle, 1 100 sheep and 350 goats in 22 camps, but hestated that the land size (11 000 ha) was not sufficing to earn him a living due to the harshenvironmental conditions along with the high mortgage to be paid on his loan. He did notfeel too upbeat about his farming prospects.He argued that the condition in which he received the farm did not justify the price he hadpaid for it. “Nothing worked and nothing was in place when I settled here. I was so eager to80 ● Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)
start commercial farming that I did not look at these things beforehand,” he lamented. Therealso appeared to be a high risk of stock theft in the area. Forty of his cattle were stolen inMarch 2008, and the police were able to recover only eight. Wilfred ascribes this problemto the farm’s location on the main road between Mariental and Keetmanshoop and in closeproximity to Mariental and the communal area, which makes it easily accessible to thieves.Employing farm workers on a permanent basis was a constant concern for Wilfred. Thus farhe had employed mainly Nama-speaking workers, and they “soon get tired of farming andthen they leave”. For this reason he had decided to recruit Owambo workers instead:… they are trustworthy and hardworking. They also save a lot themselves and you cansee that they are progressing. If they go on leave for a week after every third month,they come back if you take care of them and this is what the other groups don’t do.Would he have followed the same trajectory had he known 10 years ago what he knew now?No. Physically I had to sacrifice and spend too much money, with little to show for it.Yearly I have to pay off my loan with high interest. If things could have stayed the sameas those times with the white farmers when it was still 4% annual interest, it would havebeen better. It is now market related and you really feel it and we as AALS farmers aresuffering a lot.Despite regretting having become an AALS farmer, Wilfred felt that he had no choice butto continue on his farm:I must just pull through as a farmer because it is the choice that I have made ten yearsago. I have my children to look after – my wife passed away a few years ago. If inflationcan stay low, I can still make it. Otherwise I will go bankrupt and lose this farm.The main farmhouse on a resettlement farm in Hardap.One or two suitable photosLivelihoods after Land Reform: Namibia country report (2010) ● 81
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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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2.4 Land reform and rural developme
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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 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 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
Page 131 and 132: 6 GROUPRESETTLEMENTSCHEMESOfficiall
Page 134 and 135: Low levels of education further lim
Page 136: 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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