The agricultural sector in Namibia is the largest employer accounting for about 15.3% of the total Namibian workforce (Namibia Labour Force, 2018).

Agriculture supports the livelihoods of about 70% of the Namibian population. It remains our conviction that agriculture offers the best opportunities to revitalise our economy, create productive and decent jobs, develop skills, transfer and adapt technology, bring about less inequality, better living standards for all and ensure food self-sufficiency at national and household levels.

There are about 4000 commercial farms in Namibia. Cattle breeding is predominant in the central and northern regions, while karakul sheep and goats are typical for the more arid southern regions.

Subsistence farming is mainly confined to the “communal lands” of Namibia’s populous north, where roaming cattle is prevalent and the main crops are millet, sorghum, maize and peanuts.

There is however a need to urgently transform and modernise agriculture into a vertically and horizontally integrated sector in order for it to serve as the strong bedrock of our economic recovery efforts, post-Covid 19.

Despite its arid and semi-arid climate, Namibia is able to produce a variety of crops ranging from cereals, fruits and horticulture products. The horticulture covers fresh agricultural produce including tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, butternuts, beans and groundnuts, dates, grapes, watermelons, span speck, citrus and others under irrigations. Cereals crops include maize, pear millet (mahangu), wheat and sunflower.

Only two percent of Namibia receives sufficient rainfall to grow crops. All inland rivers are ephemeral, as they flow only after heavy rains. Irrigation is therefore limited to the valleys of the Orange, Kunene and Okavango rivers which form Namibia’s borders.

Increased production of horticulture produce indicates that massive opportunities still exist within the sector. The main crop exports under agriculture include dates and grapes.

There about 500 farmers (330 smallholder), but Namibia remains a net importer of horticultural products, mainly fruits.

Production is mainly for domestic formal and informal markets, with exports on some line such as table grapes, dates, onions, tomato etc.

MSP scheme implemented (minimum requirement for importers), currently stands at 47% from merely 5% in 2005.

There is import restriction on 14 Special controlled products implemented during times of sufficient local supply.

The government encourages local sourcing of agricultural products. Retailers of fruits, vegetables and other crop products are obliged to purchase 27.5 percent of their stock from local farmers.

Table grapes, grown mostly along the Orange River in the arid south, have become an increasingly important commercial crop and a significant source of income for seasonal labour.

The Namibian livestock sector consists of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, accounting to about 76 percent of livestock production of overall agricultural output value of which 70 percent is from the commercial areas and 6 percent from communal areas.

Animal products, live animals, and crop exports constituted roughly 10.7 percent of total Namibian exports. Live export to South Arica and Angola are mainly cattle, goat and sheep.