Forty seven delegates from the Namibia Agricultural Union representing the commercial farmers sector from all over Namibia gathered in Windhoek from 11 - 13 March 2003 to analyse, discuss and synergise recommendations on the contribution of the commercial farming sector to a political, economical, environmental and social sustainable and successful land use and land reform programme in Namibia.

A concept plan was also hammered out in terms of which meaningful deliberations between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and the NAU on land use and land reform will take place.

The deliberation of the conference was held within the objectives of Vision 2030 as visualized by His Excellency, Dr Sam Nujoma and the National Development Plan II (NDPII) and other guiding policies on land use and land reform as a vehicle to achieve Vision 2030.

The conference acknowledged that the agricultural sector does not only play a huge role in terms of its contribution to the GDP and job creation, but is also instrumental in addressing the land issue. For this reason the conference agreed on issues which are regarded as grey areas in the Agriculture (Commercial) Land Reform Act 1995 which governs the commercial farming sector such as the size of an economic unit, what is regarded as under/unutilised land and excessive land. After consultation with the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation these recommendations will be made available to the Land Reform Advisory Commission.

However, the conference also came to the conclusion that the lack of authoritative information on the potential of the agricultural sector may have a huge influence on the contribution of the sector to address national objectives such as poverty alleviation and job creation. For this reason, the conference suggested that independent studies be undertaken to exactly determine its potential against the background of the given sensitive environment of Namibia.

All delegates accepted their respon-sibility and challenge towards a successful national land use and land reform programme and committed themselves in the form of a voluntary contribution of N$ 1 000 each and N$ 10 000 from NAPHA to a land reform fund to be administered by the NAU. This fund, of which the details will be worked out at a later stage and which will be based on voluntary contri-butions, will be used to assist the government in its efforts to execute a successful land use and land reform programme.

The conference also agreed that the NAU must encourage her members through the Farmers Associations and Regional Unions to organise themselves in committees to technically assist emerging farmers resettled in the commercial sector. This will be done in co-operation with the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation and the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development.

Due to the comprehensiveness of the content of the subject, the NAU will prepare a Draft Final Report for discussion and approval by the delegates at the end of April 2003, after which a final report will be submitted during May 2003 for discussion with the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement & Rehabilitation.