Namibia should prioritise agriculture and green hydrogen development for inclusive economic growth, High Economic Intelligence’s Managing Director Salomo Hei has said.
Agriculture contributes around 5.1% of the country’s GDP, while about 70% of the Namibian population depends on agricultural activities for livelihood. However, the sector’s performance has been minimal in the past few years due to drought and low rainfall among other issues.
“We must broaden the domestic economy, which can be accomplished through a sector such as agriculture. I think if we could spend the time that we spend on green hydrogen on agriculture the sector would yield positive results,” Hei told a recent event.
He added that significant investments have been made in green schemes with no return or accountability.
“I was taught that once you have facilities that are fully equipped but not fully optimised, and these are the challenges we are facing, if we could just bring some of the attention that we give to this sectors and pin it down as to why this green scheme is not producing to its maximum capacity and why we are not making a dent in the local economy,” he said.
The executive noted that green hydrogen is not a technology that most people are familiar with, and that there are specific pilot projects that have recently taken off, and he hopes that they can shed more light on the doubts that many people have.
“It makes almost no sense to cost more to produce the energy and actually sell it but we are hoping it’s one of those projects that we learn about along the way and see the light eventually,” he added.
Namibia’s agricultural sector is forecasted to post positive growth this year, driven by growth in livestock production and expected adequate rainfall in the current summer season, according to research firm Simonis Storm.
This, however, comes after the sector recorded a contraction of 14.2% year on year (y/y) in 3Q2022 after expanding by 7.8% y/y and 2.0% y/y in 1Q2022 and 2Q2022 respectively.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform is set to re-advertise the three green schemes of Katima Liselo, Tandjieskoppe, and Zone, after previous bids failed to interest investors.
Agriculture Minister Calle Schlettwein said the Ministry will conduct further market sounding to better present these projects to potential investors.
“Public bids for the three brownfield projects of Tandjieskoppe, Zone, and Katima Liselo Green Schemes were floated in the market, but no interest was shown. For these projects, a re-advertisement is envisaged as the bids did not receive any response from the market. Further market sounding will be undertaken to better pitch these opportunities to potential investors going forward,” Schlettwein said last month.
The bids for the Ndonga Linena Green Scheme Irrigation Project and Orange River Irrigation Project are under evaluation, while the Uvhungu Vhungu Dairy Project has been successfully leased to a Namibian-Indian joint-venture company.
“While this process is unfolding, the Ministry with public funding support has put these assets into production after many years of underutilisation,” he said.
Three Green Schemes, Shadikongoro, Sikondo, and Etunda, have not been advertised yet and are in production with winter crops (wheat) already being harvested.
The Minister also announced a yield of 776 hectares producing 7,000 tonnes of white maize from the Green Schemes. If everything goes according to plan, the yield will exceed the National Strategic Food Reserve of 11,000 metric tonnes.
