Give Youth a Chance to Revive Abandoned Land and Other State Resources

HAVING STUDIED community development, I look at potentially useful resources abandoned by the government that are going to waste.

Why are communities facing hunger and unemployment when state land is lying idle? The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform acquired land from these communities, thus the community can take charge.

Food parcels distributed by the government are no panacea for hunger and unemployment. Long-term solutions are called for that teach citizens how to fish, as opposed to giving them fish.

I have visited three abandoned ministerial farms, tree-planting projects, in the Ohangwena region – an inventive programme that died a sudden death.

Its failure crushed the expectations of people in these communities.

They were promised employment and a steady supply of food. The village headman provided land for these farms in the hope of restoring the dignity of the people through this development. Today the land is not utilised. I'm sure there are farms like this in all 14 regions.

The ministry started off well. The farms were nicely fenced off and provided with taps, water tanks and other necessities, but today you cannot even find a single pole. Vandalism has taken its toll. This is a waste of state funds.

From a community-development practitioner perspective, the main problem is that the community did not take ownership of these farms.

Community members were not participants or involved in the planning process. If you simply take development to the people, it tends to be temporary and unsustainable. People need to be helped to develop themselves.

It also appears that most of those involved did not have a passion for or an understanding of the important role of these farms for the community. Rather, it was just about money.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

The Vision 2030 initiative, the Harambee Prosperity Plan and the fifth National Development Plan all embrace the zero hunger strategy, which recognises the importance of food and nutrition security in attaining sustainable development goals: Ending poverty in all its forms, and ensuring healthy lives for all.

At community level, we must empower community groups and rural agripreneurs to produce enough to feed their communities and to meet the government halfway in fighting hunger and poverty. To ensure state funds do not go down the drain, the government must allow community groups and small rural agripreneurs to lease these farms.

Many people are involved in agricultural activities and can operate these farms on a five- or 10-year agreement at a low price, if not for free.

A few agripreneurs can share one farm. These should be young people with passion, who are willing to put in everything to succeed, but who currently lack either farming space or the needed finance.

Supporting rural community groups and rural agripreneurs requires us to make the needed resources available to them, and this includes these farms.

Young people driving these community groups would have the capacity to feed their communities and create job opportunities. They should be given the opportunity.

* Otuvalumenhu Kaanduka is a founding member and director of DeLA Namibia, a non-profit agricultural organisation aimed at identifying and promoting rural agri-projects. Email him at info.delanamibia.org@gmail.com