Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has hailed the potential of agriculture to empower Namibians and reiterated the significance of self-sufficiency.

Nandi-Ndaitwah on Friday toured the Roots Agriculture Village at Stampriet in the Hardap Region.

The Roots Agricultural Village is based on a unique model that combines intensive farming of livestock and permanent crops with an agricultural college for education in food security, a retirement village, and a lifestyle village.

The Vice President commended the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) for supporting initiatives like the Roots Farm, which contributes to food production and cash crop cultivation. 

"What is required is goodwill to create appropriate skills, people to have the right mind, the right focus, and clear targets, and speak with one mind for the hearts to work together. And this is what I am seeing here. So I must very sincerely thank you, Johan, and your team, all of them who are in different activities that have been carried out at this place, from education to farming and value addition. They are all equally important, and that is the beauty of agriculture. Because of agriculture, everyone who is involved has equal responsibility. Because one sector of agriculture cannot move if the other is not pulling in the same direction. So if we can really help Namibians with this attitude, I am telling you, we are going to be a country that we all want to live in."

Ndaitwah said there is a need for a balanced approach to agriculture where food production and cash crops are equally prioritised in the country's growth agenda. 

"This is the second project I have seen. I saw the one on the blueberry, which is more job-intensive. Of course, it's a cash crop, which will also bring us foreign currency. That's why I say we must create a balance between agriculture for food production, producing our cereals, producing the food we consume, and agriculture for cash crops, which are more job-intensive and bring the country foreign currency. They should be seen equally in our growth agenda."

Nangula Uaandja of the NIPDB says this is but one of several other projects supported by the board, stressing the need for high-quality export-ready products.

The Roots Development is based on a new concept of agricultural towns that first create a mini-economy in the agricultural town and then grow exponentially until it exports products to the international market.