Due to their favourable climate and water availability, both Kavango regions are considered key for national food security.

Swapo Party Secretary General Sophia Shaningwa urged the regional leaders to focus on improving food productivity in the region. 

Programmes aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture to enhance food security remain a crucial part of the country's economy and livelihood strategies.

This will help reduce poverty and create job opportunities, said Shaningwa.

"My comrades in Kavango East and West, as well as the Zambezi region, you are the green basket of this country. You have water; you have land. We need to implement the agricultural projects immediately, and we also need to work hard to ensure we have enough food. While we are working and earning, it is crucial to prioritise food production for our nation. We cannot rely on food from other countries every day; we require food from our own land. Worked on by our own people. We have to get our hands dirty to provide food for ourselves," Shaningwa added.

While resource management remains an ongoing concern, the secretary general stated that the 2025/2026 budget is already approved and only pending implementation, which calls for everyone's effort to see to it that government money is used to the advantage of its people.

"We in the Kavango East and West and the whole country, we are now supposed to see to it that whatever we have set for ourselves in the manifesto of the Swapo Party is implemented, whatever project is set in the manifesto of the Swapo Party and it is budgeted for and it is approved by her excellency the president is implemented so that at least it benefits our people."

Shaningwa shared this as she received about 200 Swapo Party members in the Kavango East region at Rundu.