The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform says it anticipates a bumper harvest of about 14,967 tonnes of maize by the end of the summer from five green schemes under production.
The schemes include Etunda, Sikondo, Uuvhungu Vhungu, Ndonga Linena and Shadikongoro Green Scheme Irrigation Projects.
The forecasted harvest comes after the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform took a robust stance of reviving the Green Schemes which were now idle, while in the same vein trying to privatise them to maximise production.
The Ministry’s Spokesperson Jona Musheko said in the commercial part, about 66 hectares have already been planted with maize, and another 132 hectares will be planted in the next few days.
“In addition to the above, there are 176 hectares of small-scale farmers that we are currently planting maize as well. Lastly, we are working on expanding production to phase 2 of the farms by adding over 80 hectares of land. To this effect we have completed fencing of the second phase with at least 80% fenced off with an electric fence and also completed debushing the same site,” Musheko said while providing insights into agricultural activities at Ndonga Linena in the Kavango East region.
“Furthermore, the plan is to plant wheat during the coming winter season in phase 2. Therefore, it is not right that some people insinuate that there is no production or any activities being undertaken at the green schemes,” he added.
In addition, Musheko also said out of the 11 Green Schemes that were set to be privatised, only two have thus far been awarded.
The farms comprise the Orange River Irrigation Project under the stewardship of Muadifam Enterprise, on a 25-year lease period as well as Uuvhungu Vhungu Diary Project taken over by Ndalikalimwe Investments CC JV Zeuzer Engineers India Pvt Ltd, for 25 years.
