The Chief Executive Officer of the Government Institutions Pensions Fund (GIPF), Martin Inkumbi, has expressed satisfaction with the production at the Mashare Berries farm in the Kavango East Region.
Mashare Berries is one of the projects funded by GIPF.
Mashare Berries, Namibia's first commercial berry producer, is one of GIPF's unlisted investment projects.
The farm formerly exported berries to Europe, Great Britain, and the Middle East, amongst others.
GIPF's Chief Executive Officer, accompanied by the executive team, visited the farm to familiarise themselves with progress there.
"I do believe that this is a sector that has potential. They continue trying various varieties of blueberries. They now have about six varieties, two very new ones, and a scoop for expanding. I am very happy that I think this just demonstrates how our institutional savings, this time from the pension fund industry, specifically GIPF, had an impact on our economy, and that's what we would like to see, earning a return to be able to provide benefits for our members in the future but also having impacted the ground."
Inkumbi says, apart from the economic development, he is pleased that the project has a positive impact on the livelihood of the local community members.
At the moment, the farm has employed 100 permanent employees, and they can contract about 800 casual workers seasonally.
"I am really very satisfied and happy to see that, especially when I am talking about the impact on the livelihood of these people and their families. The ladies that are working here are informed that they can earn up to N$200 a day just from picking during the harvesting season, and that is over a period of 2 hours. If you replicate that, how much can they take home? Management of this project told me that during the harvesting period, it's about one to N$1.5 million that is injected into the local economy every month, and that money is circulating here in the economy. They are buying in the local shops, they are doing private investments; they are improving their houses; they are paying school fees; that's what we would like to see."
Inkumbi calls on institutional investors to seek opportunities and invest in local projects to help reduce unemployment and improve the people's living conditions.
Albert Basson, the investment manager at the farm, says so far the farm is doing well.
"Farming, I would say, is never perfect, but you manage it to the best of your ability, and I think our conditions are well suited for blueberries. We had a lot of work, analysing the soil, the weather, and the water, and we believe that Kavango can be a globally competitive producer of blueberries, and we are working to make that dream a reality."
Harvesting is currently underway and starts from June to November.