The University of Namibia's Ogongo Campus short courses on vegetable production, which are open to enrolment without strict requirements, have satisfied President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

The Head of State made these remarks when she visited the campus to assess the current state of agriculture courses at the institution and explore opportunities for value addition in the sector.

Dr. Nandi-Ndaitwah also commended the campus for its strong focus on research, saying it will enable the institution to make well-informed decisions based on research.

"If we in Africa cannot invest in research, we must forget to address poverty in our countries. That is why I am very happy to see the research that is going on at the Ogongo campus, which is accompanied by production."

Ogongo UNAM Campus serves as a training and research institution, specialising in crop production, forestry, and livestock production.

During her on-site visit, the president toured several projects, such as that of poultry, where she observed a hatchery, table egg production, and chicks' production that are supplied to local markets.

The delegation was then taken to the Agri-PV initiative, which integrates agricultural production with electricity generation on the same land and controls water usage.

A brief on rice production was shared with the Head of State and her delegation.

They were informed that 21 tonnes of rice from seven hectares were already harvested in June this year and sold locally.

The campus provides training to small-scale farmers on rice production, and thus far, 4,000 farmers have been trained on rain-fed rice production.

They were then taken to the rice milling station to be shown how rice is processed into different varieties.

70% of the Ogongo UNAM Campus is focused on research, 20% on education and 10% on community programmes.