Small-scale farmers at the Ndonga Linena Green Scheme in Kavango East claim they have been excluded from wheat production for the winter season, accusing the farm manager of sidelining them and using their seeds for commercial purposes.

Out of the 25 small-scale farmers, five said they were ready to plant wheat and had sourced their seeds independently. The seeds arrived on May 19th, four days later than expected.

“The manager finished planting earlier, and he was left with 95 bags of seeds, and he has five farmers who are supposed to plant wheat,” said one of the farmers. “Instead of helping his farmers, he took 95 bags of wheat and gave it to another project, which to me is not how it was supposed to be done.”

 The farmers say the delay and exclusion sabotage government efforts to support small-scale agriculture.

 “We are trying to do things, but at the end of the day, we are trying to sabotage the program for the government. Because we want the little that the government is trying to source to bring—let us farmers use it,” another farmer said.

 They stressed the importance of proper planning and support to ensure success.

 “That is why there must be monitoring and evaluation. A farmer always needs to plant on time, because when a season is gone, it’s gone. With farming, it is very delicate.”

Wheat planting at the green scheme began on May 15th and concluded on June 15th.

However, Ndonga Linena Farm Manager Jannor Rentle dismissed the allegations, saying the commercial section only used its seeds, not those meant for small-scale farmers.

“The guy from Inteli-Grow stopped here that morning because I already wanted to cancel that contract, that tender, because they were delaying our seeds,” said Rentle. “Then they said, ‘No, they bring us seeds.’ They brought us 7, 58, and 37 bags. When we started with the 37 bags—he was here also—we opened the seeds, and the seeds had failed. It was not good. You can’t even plant it. It was 37 bags we sent back to the supplier because they were not good.”

So far, the farm has planted 110 hectares of wheat and plans to plant an additional 66 hectares of oats.

During a recent visit, Kavango East Governor Hamunyera Hambyuka encouraged the affected farmers to submit their complaints to his office for further attention.