The current global economic downturn, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and climate change and climate variability has negatively impacted economies around the world, including ours.
These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that Namibia’s agriculture sector lags far behind in the application of modern agricultural production and processing technologies.
These difficult times have caused some trading partner countries to impose export restrictions and prohibitions of staple grain foods and other essential products such as medicines and medical equipment. The lesson here is an opportunity. Namibia can no longer rely on supplies of basic commodities from elsewhere.
There lies the greatest opportunity to optimally utilise available resources to boost local agriculture production.
The Namibian economy is a consumption led economy, depending up to about 60 % on public consumption. When public consumption drops, growth disappears. Secondly, as an economy that consumes what it does not produce (finished goods and services), and produces what it does not consume (primary commodities such as minerals, fish and other raw materials), stimulating the economy by higher public consumption does not cut it. Structural reform and significant investments in the productive sector are required.