Mutorwa stops mega crop production … as Namibia faces its worse drought in 30 years THE Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, John Mutorwa, has ordered the halting of new farming activities at the Shitemo Agricultural Project in the Kavango region, one of the most successful crop production schemes in the country, despite that Namibia is facing its worst drought in 30 years. Mutorwa wrote to businessman Aaron Mushimba, who is the owner of Agri-Pro, which is preparing to reap one of its best agricultural harvests at the irrigation scheme this season that its lease of the land and/or the project from the Namibia Development Corporation (NDC) will not be renewed when it expires on 30th August this year. Confidente is reliably informed that Mutorwa wants to give the irrigation scheme to a group of South African business people, but could not establish the identity of the South Africans by the time of going to press. Acting NDC Managing Director Piet de Wet wrote Mushimba a letter (a copy of which is in the possession of Confidante) informing him that the Minister did not support the renewal of the lease agreement with Agri-Pro when the lease expires on 30 August this year. Approached for comment, De Wet confirmed writing the letter on instructions by the Minister not to renew the lease agreement but declined to shed more light on the motives of Mutorwa. “I cannot speak on behalf of the Minister. Agri- Pro responded through their lawyers against the decision”. He referred further questions to the Minister. According to the letter, Agri-Pro had not complied with the long-term lease agreement the two parties signed and the continuation of the lease agreement will not be in the national interest. Mushimba, through his lawyers, denied in a correspondence to De Wet, that he had “not committed a breach of any of the terms of agreement” between the parties. This season’s harvest at Shitemo irrigation scheme is estimated to be at 2 500 tonnes of maize, 150 tonnes of groundnuts,100 tonnes of gemsquash, as well as 100 tonnes of butternuts and a 100 tonnes of pumpkins. More than 400 tonnes of fodder is expected to rescue drought stricken farmers’ cattle. Although Shitemo irrigation scheme has been doing better than other Government irrigation projects along the Kavango River in terms of performance – it has been denied the Government Green Scheme privileges – and solely survives – on the goodwill of Mushimba who has invested more than N$20 million into the project over the years. Confidente is also reliably informed that Mushimba, stands to face substantial losses if he halts production at the irrigation scheme as he had invested substantially in the project by replacing decaying NDC agricultural equipment with state-of-the-art equipment and was about to roll out his next investment expansion plans. Apart from posing a threat to the harvesting of the much needed food – the Minister’s actions will also force Agri-Pro to suspend an agricultural expansion plan which could have created 250 jobs and an estimated 500 hectares of land to be harvested. This will worsen the food deficit the country is experiencing and increase the amount of food imports. Currently, the Shitemo Irrigation Agricultural project harvests an estimated 120 tonnes of maize per day. The agricultural scheme currently employs more than 80 people on the farm. Manager and Consultant of the Agri-Pro Namibia, Terence Spyron told Confidente that he was shocked to learn of the NDC refusal to renew the Shitemo Agricultural farm lease just after he informed the NDC Acting Managing Director of the progress and development at the farm. “Just after we have pumped in millions of dollars and the project was getting off the ground they want to discontinue it,” he said. The dilapidated NDC-B-Scheme was not functional and Agri-Pro upgraded its pump-station to make it operational at all times and replaced the main pipelines and carried out major repairs to the centre pivots at a cost exceeding millions of dollars. In order to enhance farming activities at Shitemo, new machinery including a Claas Lexion 440 combine harvester with maize and wheat heads, six tower Zimmatic Centre pivots including six mobile silo among others were part of the N$7 million investments Mushimba’s company made in the last financial year. Spyron said he had hoped that Agri-Pro’s investments will be taken seriously by NDC and Government and that it would enhance good working relations between the parties. Mutorwa and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Joseph Iita, could not be reached for comment as they are said to be out of the country. Meanwhile, Mushimba through his lawyers warned the NDC Acting Managing Director that “ we trust that you would be cautious in your future endeavours to again randomly cancel the lease agreement, as our client has already expended a huge amount of money towards the winter crops.” “Be advised that our client herewith notifies you, in terms of clause three of the lease agreement between the parties, of its intention to renew its lease for a further period of four years and eleven months,” he stated. “With reference to you letter, dated 25 April 2013, addressed to Mushimba, in which you purport to cancel the lease agreement between the parties, we wish to advise you that this notice is null and void.” (Marianne Nghidengwa in Windhoek and Max Hamata at Shitemo/Confidénte)
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:29:30 +0000
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