Commercial land acquisition process in Namibia hinders foreign investment

The process of acquiring land for commercial projects is hindering foreign investment into Namibia.

Namibia Berries founder and director Michael Rodenburg, speaking during a media tour yesterday, said during the infant stages of starting the farm, the biggest challenge they faced was getting land.

In Namibia, everything above the redline is governed by the chiefs, headmen, traditional leaders and kings, as long as it is not in the town area.

“The bulk of the land is available, but to get it, you need to deal with the kings and headmen and that is very difficult.

It took us two years of going back and forth, going through lawyers just to finally get the land where we now have Namibia Berries,” said Rodenburg.

He said projects are started with funding from investors and these investors want to see results quickly.

“We were on our way out to try Botswana, however, on our last day, we got to talk to the chief executive of the town council and that was how we were eventually able to get land,” said Rodenburg.

He added that if Namibia could make the process of acquiring land less cumbersome, the country will attract more investment.

It would be ideal if the government could have pieces of land readily available, with documentation already done so that when foreigners want to come and invest in the country, they can bid for the land so that there is transparency.

Namibia Berries is located at Divundu and there are currently 350 to 400 locals working on the farm.

It completed its first harvest in August, which was then exported to Hong Kong, Germany and Dubai.

The total investment planned includes N$1.5 billion for the development of 500 hectares of land.

Currently, N$750 million is available for the development of 250 hectors by the end of 2026.

Pyrogenic Carbon Capture and Storage Namibia (PyroNam) biochar manager Eck Volkmann says currently the company has one farmer that supplies bush biomass, but they plan to expand the project and set up 50 plants.

However, like Namiba Berries, PyroNam also faces challenges when it comes to acquiring land.