By: Ludorf Iyambo
Farmers at Etunda green scheme say their farming future is in limbo after the Etunda manager, Albertus Viljoen, announced that it would cut off irrigation water and electricity for farmers if they fail to pay N$ 4,536.75 each before 30 June 2022.
According to the Etunda manager, the project owes Nored a bill of N$580,704 in outstanding unpaid invoices.
One of the farmers, Kavinga Alphons, told The Villager that government’s operator of the green schemes, AgriBusDev, has led them into debt.
“We are basically on our own at the moment. AgriBusDev is supposed to be our service provider, but he (Viljoen) is currently just the farmer manager, but even he is not doing anything,” he said.
He said there is no necessary equipment for farmers to do their jobs, such as fertiliser and ploughing tractors.
“For a year now, we never received service. Now we’re just farming traditionally. We clean with the hoe and other garden tools. And this is not professional at all,” he said.
He further said farmers could not pay AgriBusDev because of the poor harvests they are experiencing. He said that, in the past, they used to get service from the beleaguered state entity and pay the money after the harvest. They said AgriBusDev has failed them when it failed to render services.
“The agreement was that AgriBusDev expected the farmers to pay after the harvest, but now they are demanding payment whether the farmer harvested or not. They should bring in someone with a better understanding of what agriculture is. Where will we get the money if we are not producing anything? What can I do as a farmer with 12 hectares if I don’t have a tractor or seeds?” Alphons told The Villager.
Meanwhile, when approached for comment, AgriBusDev’s acting managing director Berfine Antindi says that the agency has no means of production, hence there’s nothing the entity can do. She stated that it isn’t only Etunda farmers that are affected, but all the green schemes farmers in the country as the ministry of agriculture, water and land reform is now taking over the green schemes.
“As I’m talking to you, AgriBusDev, we don’t have money. We are aware that there are a lot of tractors that are not functioning, and these things require a lot of money. We are just waiting for the ministry to take over the operation of the projects. AgriBusDev as a company is still there, but in terms of financial means to do what is supposed to be done, we don’t have,” said Antindi.
This comes after, according to media reports, Antindi said that AgribusDev had received N$4 million from state coffers last year for winter crop production meant for Etunda, Shadikongoro and Uvungu-Vungu irrigation projects. She, at the time, however, said the agency had not received anything for summer production.
According to Antindi, however, the only hope is to see the ministry taking over the projects as quickly as possible.
The cabinet decision of November 2021 ordered the ministry of agriculture to take over all the green schemes operation from AgriBusDev.
AgriBusDev received an allocation of N$229 million from the current national budget for the next three years, which former public enterprises minister Leon Jooste said was needed as the agency would continue with its operations until the process of winding it up has been finalised.
The allocation is set at N$75 million for the current financial year and N$77 million in 2023/24 and 2024/25, respectively.
