From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#4 (April 1999), page 24 (box within "Namibia: Country in Focus")

Agriculture still marked by years of apartheid

Perhaps in no other area of economic activity in Namibia is the difference between rich and poor as stark as in farming, a result of the country's colonial and apartheid past. The sector is characterized by unequal access to good land and sharp differences in incomes. Since over 70 per cent of Namibians live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture -- the sector is by far the single largest employer -- there is widespread poverty and some social and political discontent.

The sector is divided between white commercial farming and black communal farming. Some 4,200 white farmers own 36.2 mn hectares and employ some 36,000 black labourers on farms that average 8,620 hectares. The communal farmers operate on a total of 33.5 mn hectares but support 1.2 million people, or 95 per cent of the farming population. Access to communal land is governed by custom and there are no freehold titles. It is also overcrowded, overgrazed and prone to drought.

Pre-independence policy favoured the white commercial farmers, who enjoyed subsidized inputs, services and controlled prices, particularly of maize and beef, which were well above world prices. The government has since independence revised its agricultural policy but the communal farmer still remains the underdog.

"The subsidies and direct agricultural services have been poorly targeted, the extension staff have been ill-prepared for their work, asked to take on work that is inappropriate, and have been unable to reach the most needy," the Namibia Economic Policy Research Unit stated in a 1996 report. "Farm production and rural incomes remain low. The framework for the price controls on beef and maize is still in place. The benefits are weighted in favour of the commercial producers and monopolistic processors."

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