President Sam Nujoma and his Zambian counterpart officially opened the new 900m long bridge in the Caprivi across the Zambezi River on Thursday. For the bridge and Zambian road to Livingston, the construction period has only been 24 months. The Livingstone-Sesheke-Katima Mulilo road and the new bridge at Katima Mulilo jointly with the Trans-Caprivi-Highway are remarkable examples of the excellent bilateral cooperation between Zambia and Namibia and their trilateral cooperation with Germany. In a statement, the German embassy in Windhoek said Germany provided more than 32 million Euros for the two projects in Zambia. Another 35.6 million Euro were used for 276 km of the Trans-Caprivi-Highway under the German development cooperation programme with Namibia. Since independence, Germany has invested more than 80 million Euros in Namibia’s transport infrastructure.

Headline earnings per share for the Oceana Group for the six months ended 31 March 2004 decreased by 15% and stood at N$79 million compared to those of the first half of the previous year (N$91.8 million). Group turnover declined by 10% and operating profit by 13%, Oceana announced this week. Oceana also has fishing subsidiaries in Namibia. An interim dividend of 17.5 cents per share has been declared which is the same as last year. Canned fish sales volumes on the domestic market were 3% lower than the previous year due mainly to a lack of supply. Pilchard landings to the cannery were higher than for the same period last year, however, production yields were poorer due to fish size and the distance from the fishing grounds, resulting in lower production volumes. The pilchard biomass in SA waters remained healthy and the 2004 Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of 250 000 tons (2003: 285 000 tons) is likely to be increased, Oceana reported this week. Pilchard fishing in Namibia started last month against the provisional 20 000 ton TAC (2003: 20 000 ton). Due to the low TAC the industry is landing their catch at the Etosha cannery. Fishmeal sales volumes were well above the previous year and prices were lower. Export realisations from lobster were lower due to both weaker dollar selling prices and the stronger rand. Lobster catches in South Africa were good and increased quantities were exported in live form.

The Sustainable Animal and Range Development Programme (SARDEP) supported by the GTZ for communal farmers was ended recently. Last week officials and cooperation partners held a goodbye function in Windhoek. It required extensive training and capacity building of communal farmers. SARDEP organised formal training in subjects such as basic bookkeeping, water point maintenance and animal health and exposed farmers from one region to the people and farming practices of another. Visits to commercial farms were arranged, and a number of commercial farmers were hired by SARDEP to share their skills and practical experiences with small-scale communal farmers. From its inception, SARDEP insisted on employing Namibian staff wherever possible. A national co-ordinator from the ministry of agriculture was seconded to the programme. As Namibian counterpart to the German team leader, he was responsible for the implementation of SARDEP at national level. In addition, a number of local facilitators were hired by SARDEP to work with communities in the field. These were co-ordinated at regional level by Agricultural Extension staff. All of SARDEP’s staff received training in community mobilisation and facilitation. Under the guidance of Technical Advisers, they had the opportunity to gain the necessary practical experience. However, throughout the programme, the GTZ sought to keep the intervention of its technical advisers to a minimum, to allow Namibians as much opportunity as possible to acquire skills.