EU helps Namibia promote fruit farming

The Namibia Agronomic Board (NAB) launched a series of awareness sessions to promote investment in the production and export of fruits by Namibian farmers.

According to NAB spokesperson Emily Abraham, the objectives of the sessions, being held in collaboration with the European Union-Namibia Economic Partnership Agreement (EU-EPA) programme, are promoting the fruit value chain and unpacking investment and export opportunities in the Namibian fruit sector.

“We have joined hands with the EU-EPA to co-fund these sessions and so far a total of around N$100 000 has been used, with each partner contributing 50% of the total cost,” Abraham says.

In addition to funding, the EU also provides technical assistance training and capacity building to help Namibian producers and exporters meet the required market standards and improve their production capabilities to enhance the competitiveness of Namibian fruit on the EU market.

“We want to reach out to every Namibian farmer who can grow fruits to do so and also ensure that farmers are in sync with the demands of the market.

“You find that farmers are growing different cultivars of fruits which the market might reject, so we want them to speak the same language,” she says.

According to Abraham, the initiative was triggered by the fact that 96% of all fruit consumed in Namibia are imported mainly from South Africa and the initiative seeks to reduce that to around 50%, like with horticultural crops.

The EU is one of the largest markets for Namibian fruit exports such as grapes, dates and blueberries, and the initiative aims to expand this range through the NAB’s fruit development scheme.

“NAB would like to promote the production of fruits Namibians consume and trade in large quantities including apples, grapes, blue berries, bananas, citrus, mangoes, avocados and pawpaws,” she says.

Namibia benefits from trade agreements with the EU, such as the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which provides preferential access to the EU market.

Abraham says the awareness campaign will help in capacity building of fruit farmers by identifying their needs and challenges.

“Small, emerging and established commercial fruit farmers and any other interested fruit value chain actors are welcome to participate in these awareness session events,” she says.

So far, awareness sessions have been held at Gobabis, where attendance was good and farmers showed eagerness for the programme.

“This month, the awareness campaign will be taken to Omuthiya, Ongwediva, Nkurenkuru and Kongola,” Abraham says.
– email: matthew@namibian.com.na