Some white elephants in Namibia

An editorial by Jacquie Tarr in the Namibian: ... If rumours are correct, Namibia too can now boast its very own herd of white elephants: several 78 KW tractors (so enormous, they cannot work effectively on small farms), disc harrows and ploughs (thoroughly incompatible with sustainable agriculture in Africa); all imported from Brazil by our Ministry of Agriculture Water and Forestry (MAWF) which, together with other inappropriate, non-tendered, equipment purchased for the full mechanisation of government's Green Schemes and dry-land cropping programmes, is whispered to have cost the taxpayer more than N$ 320 million. Admittedly, not quite as silly as a snowplough in the tropics, but hideously more expensive and potentially far more destructive.

Our government's agricultural exploits have become alarming, or - as one expert in the field of sustainable agriculture has reiterated - irresponsible to the extreme. It seems as if no effort is made to build upon Namibians' extensive traditional farming knowledge (so well adapted to our harsh environmental conditions), to learn from past mistakes linked to highly mechanised agriculture (the 1930s USA dustbowl being the most instructive example) or, indeed, to implement the many excellent policies and Laws that our Government has promulgated since independence regarding sustainable and responsible land-use.

Sadly, the importation of environmentally damaging agricultural equipment is only the tip of the iceberg. MAWF extension officers apparently make no effort to encourage farmers to conserve forests when preparing the land for tillage or to guide them on the most sustainable and productive methods of farming....

A vineyard in Namibia, photo by Kurd Schwabe, Friedrich Behme, Robert Lohmeyer, Bruno Marquardt, Eduard Kiewning, public domain