The Swapo Party Vice President, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has encouraged the nation to invest in agriculture to diminish unemployment amongst the youth and reduce poverty.

Nandi-Ndaitwah was speaking at a Swapo Party rally at Nkurenkuru in the Kavango West Region, which was held in preparation for the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly elections next year.

The rally attracted supporters from all corners of the country.

Swapo Party Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah reminded that the country is faced with challenges of unemployment that contribute to poverty, to which the party will give due attention through agriculture, fishing, mining, and tourism.

"Investing in agriculture and focusing on valuable crop production, aquaculture, and animal husbandry, including at the level of exploitation, will be our goal if we are to develop this country, and that is why, in preparation, hoping that we are going to have better rain this season, some tractors have already been delivered to regions that are rain-fed. We are asking you, as our farmers, both big and small, to be serious about agriculture."

She says it is critical that green schemes are operationalised for food security. She said projects such as Musese and Sikondo have unlimited potential to transform people's livelihoods.

"There was a year when there was a drought in this country, and all the food the government purchased for drought relief came from these green schemes. Swapo Party and your vice president would want us to go back to that year, and our government, I want to tell you now, has taken a decision that we are going back, and you will see how these green schemes are going to produce for our country, and this will not only be the green schemes in Kavango West or East but throughout the country."

Nandi-Ndaitwah further encouraged business people in Kavango West to come up with innovative ideas to do business with neighbouring Angola.

"We are bordering Cuando Cubango with a population of over 500,000 people; the Katwitwi border post is fully operational, and I want to call on our entrepreneurs and business people to do research and identify areas of business cooperation between Namibia and Angola as long as that cooperation is done in accordance with the laws of the two countries."

So far, the party has held rallies in nine of the country's 14 regions.