Tractor shortage hits North

Tractor shortage hits North Some farmers in northern Namibia are experiencing a shortage of tractors and are yet to plough their fields, while others are crying foul over the government tractor scheme service.

The farmers are complaining that there are not enough tractors to meet every farmer's ploughing needs following good rains in recent weeks.

The ministry of agriculture has set aside about N$32 million to be used for the 2017 dry-land crop production programme in Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Zambezi, Oshana, Kunene and the two Kavango regions. The programme aims to encourage subsistence farmers within the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs) to produce enough food to feed their families and to sell the surplus to the Agro-Marketing and Trading Agency (AMTA) to enable them to earn some money.

However, various stakeholders are saying there are a number of challenges for this to become a reality. Agricultural extension offices were opened at various constituencies, with workers roped in to help distribute seeds and fertilisers, as well as to monitor, supervise ploughing and advise farmers. Information obtained from some extension officers, indicate that during the last crop season, a large amount of money was returned to treasury, unused due to a shortage of tractors. Some farmers are claiming that they received vouchers to make use of government-subsidised tractors, but most of them have not used them yet, as only one tractor is allocated to each constituency. “Waiting for the government tractor or government-subsidised tractor is time wasting,” said Elina Kashima from Oshinyadhila village in Oshana Region.





“Beneficiaries are a lot with only one tractor serving the whole constituency. Sometimes owners of government-subsidised tractors do not want to help us saying that government takes long to pay their money. You just have to use private tractors, which are very expensive; otherwise you will run out of time.” Namibian Sun understands that private tractor owners charge different prices.

In high demand areas, they charge around N$450 per hectare, while charging around N$700 per hectare in areas with a lower demand. When it comes to government-subsidised tractors, the ministry of agriculture pays N$250 per hectare, while the farmer settles the difference.

The Chairperson of Oshana Regional Council Management, Hanu Kapenda, said many farmers are visiting extension offices to benefit from the scheme. “Since extension offices were introduced in 2014, crop producers flocked there to get ploughing vouchers, seeds and fertilisers. This is an indication that crop producers welcome the programme.

“However, rain is a challenge. It has not been enough and tractors could not attend to all beneficiaries within the short period,” he said. Kapenda says that Oshana Region consists of eleven constituencies and on average each constituency has one government tractor.

“These tractors are complemented by private tractors which are also registered to operate under the same programme where the ministry gives vouchers to farmers for tractors to help them with subsidised prices,” he said.



ILENI NANDJATO