The ban on horticulture exports to South Africa has been lifted.

 Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Land Reform, Inge Zaamwani, has confirmed the resumption of exports as of Thursday, October 23; previously withdrawn trade permits have also been reinstated.

This includes products such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, watermelons, pumpkins, and squash that were banned from entering the South African market as a precautionary measure due to sanitary concerns.

Speaking in the National Assembly, the minister said the issue was of major concern, having affected over 20,000 jobs and weakening local producers' confidence in Namibian and South African relations.

Zaamwani said the timely intervention by the head of state to safeguard the livelihoods of Namibian producers helped preserve the integrity of the horticultural value chain and maintain the country's position as a reliable agricultural trade partner.

"There was back-and-forth clarification on the technical level of the requested data, including the list of producers and additional documentation, such as detailed surveillance reports and pest diagnostics. This was unprecedented and necessitated institutional restructuring in the shortest possible time. We have therefore commenced the process to ensure increased staffing capacity for the direct trade responsible for plant health protection."

Following the minister's statement, other members of parliament raised concerns regarding the affected farmers.

According to IPC MP Michael Mulunga, "Some of those farmers have lost millions, and they had to lay off some of their employees. I would like to ask the honourable minister, what actions will the government take to compensate the farmers, or at least assist them to recover from that devastating situation that they went through?"

Immanuel Nsahinge, another IPC MP, suggested that "Moving forward, what do we have in place to make sure that this does not repeat itself for our people, the small economy that we have."

The minister responded that they are not yet sure how farmers would be assisted in terms of recovering their losses, but encouraged farmers to explore other markets as well.