Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has urged the University of Namibia (UNAM) to introduce a faculty of agriculture at the Rudu Campus.

Speaking at the UNAM Rundu Campus graduation ceremony, the Vice President said such a move would spur development in the country.

Dr. Nandi-Ndaitwah noted that both Kavango East and West are known as agricultural regions, both in crop farming and animal husbandry.

Based on this background, the introduction of agricultural courses at the Rundu Campus will bring to realisation the regions' potential, as well as that of the Zambezi and Ohangwena Regions, as food baskets.

"Therefore, as we are expanding the Rundu campus, we should think deeply in order to introduce the faculty of agriculture, as this will enable these regions to truly become the breadbasket of Namibia. We cannot continue to refer to these regions as breadbaskets of Namibia, but we are not making efforts to open that basket so that the bread can be spread throughout the country."

The Vice President stated that for the country to develop at a reasonable pace, education should speak to the market by providing solutions to existing problems in terms of economic expansion.

"The education and training sector must be ready to feed the market with the appropriate skills, hence the importance of vocation training, which should be seen as a critical sector for sustainable development to be realised. Namibia should not be a rich country with poor people. We must be prepared to work together as Namibians from all walks of life so that we can be able to create the Namibia we want, without education and appropriate education and training, even our contribution to the world of political and economic development will be compromised, and we will be the losers." 

During the graduation ceremony, Vice Chancellor Professor Kenneth Matengu shared that the university has been working on the introduction of a faculty of agriculture for almost six years now.

"We will bring the faculty of agriculture to innovate to create entrepreneurs and add value to the activities that are taking place. For purposes of accreditation, we need access to facilities. Those facilities, whether they are green schemes or research and development institutes, need access for our students so that we can train them adequately."

The Vice-Chancellor requested regional leaders meet the university halfway by providing resources, including land.