Photo : The deputy minister of agriclture, Paul Smit (right) and Mr Arnold Klein (left), chairman of the Namibia Horticulture Task Team during the launch of the horticulture database on Tuesday. Photo: Brigitte Weidlich

A great stride for the local producers of fruit and vegetables was made this week when the first electronic database for horticultural products was launched at the Namibia Agronomic Board in Windhoek. The deputy minister of agriculture, Mr Paul Smit said the database was more than what he expected. “Now the various stakeholders of the horticultural sector can go into the system via the internet and access the internal database. They now can see what is planted and harvested when and where and what products are available.” A marketing strategy was to follow, deputy minister Smit said, so that product could reach the wholesalers and retailers. More cold storage facilities had to be building. “We should even find niche market opportunities to export our products,” he added. Irrigation projects on a large scale were part of the government’s Vision 2030 and reflected the macro-economic perspective for the future of the agricultural sector in Namibia.

The deputy minister took the initiative almost two years ago after receiving the go ahead from Cabinet. He held meetings in all those regions of the country where fruit and vegetables are produced with the aim to put communal and commercial producers in touch with each other as well as retailers and wholesalers with the bigger goal to increase local production and reduce imports from South Africa. A Namibia Horticulture Task Team under the chairmanship of Mr Arnold Klein was established last year with its head office on the premises of the Namibia Agronomic Board. At the same time, six horticultural facilitators were appointed to liase with producers and retailers and to distribute information. At the same time, a small levy on horticultural products was introduced to finance the task team and its activities.

One of the major achievements was to set up a database to find out how much of the various fruit, vegetables are produced, and where and by whom as well as who the retailers, wholesalers and catering institutions are who buy the products.

According to Mr Staal Burger, national coordinator for horticulture, an electronic communication data system was developed that will enable the stakeholders to log onto the system. In rural areas, where no internet connection is available, the facilitators will have access and liase with the producers.

“The database will enable producers to plan their production programmes according to market demands. To my knowledge Namibia is the first country in Africa, if not in the world to supply this service to the farming and marketing community,” Burger said.

The next step is to develop a marketing infrastructure including cold storage, transport, processing and packing of products as well as export. A consultancy company to investigate those aspects will start on 1 April. Part of the task team’s activities will in the near future include training for small-scale farmers and extension services as well as accessibility to official financial institutions for horticulture producers. Moist of these aspects will be addressed under the “Green Scheme” initiative. It has the objective to encourage local production on a broader basis.