Nam wants China/FAO cooperation deal extended

THE first phase of the China/FAO South-South cooperation, which was aimed at boosting local agricultural production, will end on 31 April this year.

The governments of Namibia and China as well as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) entered into the tripartite agreement on 16 June 2014.

After the agreement was signed, the three parties formulated a South-South cooperation project, with Namibia receiving funding of US$1,5 million (N$22,5 million) for the implementation of the project.

Fifteen Chinese experts in, amongst others, rice cultivation, citrus production, crop protection and soil and fertiliser management were deployed to green schemes and the ministry’s research stations around the country.

Minister of agriculture, water and forestry John Mutorwa said at a media briefing on the conclusion of the first phase recently, the initial phase only concentrated on developing upstream activities of the agricultural value addition chain.

Upstream activities are the initial processing of agricultural commodities, for example the cleaning of rice and flour milling.

Mutorwa said there is an opportunity to extend the scope to look at technical interventions that will support Namibia’s policies and strategies on the development of the downstream segment of the agricultural value chain.

Downstream activities include undertaking further manufacturing operations on intermediate products made from agricultural materials, for examples bread, biscuit and noodles.

“We believe this will accelerate the transformation of agriculture in Namibia from a production orientated to a dynamic and vibrant industrialised sector,” he said.

In the first phase, the project managed to develop rice production in Namibia by introducing 15 rice varieties. Three varieties suited to Namibia’s climate will be selected.

Other achievements include training in rice production that involved 20 participants from the ministry, the Agricultural Business Development Agency and farmers.

Small-scale farmers at Green Scheme projects across the country also received training in soil treatment and fertiliser application.

The ministry has asked that a second phase be initiated.

Li Nan, a representative of the Chinese embassy who spoke at the media briefing, said his government received the request for the project to be extended, but the date of the commencement is yet to be confirmed.