The Directorate of Agricultural Production, Extension and Engineering South (DAPEES) division in the ||Kharas Region has attributed a number of unfilled vacancies to budgetary cuts. 

Officials from DAPEES voiced the issue of vacant positions during the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources oversight engagement held in Keetmanshoop. 

The vacant positions within DAPEES include agricultural technicians, administrative staff, and general workers. 

Louis Shikongo, a senior agricultural technician at DAPEES, says, "The Employment Commission  and priorities and budget cuts are reasons that some of the ADCs are vacant. But now Koes and Neckartal Dam are still new; there are no offices established yet; they are just proposed. So, for now, we will only be left with Berseba without a technical staff and Karasburg, which I think they will have to advertise; I don't know when."

Deputy Director of Human Resources at the ||Kharas Regional Council, Marina Uushunga, remarks, "DAPEES was just delegated to us recently. However, there are certain activities that are still in the mandate of the central government. When it comes to the filling of positions, we are not participating in the budget so that we can make sure that all the critical positions that we want to be filled at the regional council level are budgeted for."

The vacant positions within DAPEES did not augur well with the committee member Clemencia Coetzee.  

"It is a big challenge that needs to be addressed. And, chair, through you, we need to take it seriously because even now currently we face a disease in South Africa. Now, who is doing the inspections if these two positions are vacant"

DAPEES reported 840 breeding animals were distributed among 40 beneficiaries between 2021 and 2025. 

Inadequate staff and transport for regular monitoring, delays in supply of breeding stock and veterinary inputs were highlighted as major challenges facing the breeding stock distribution programme. 

A total of 254 farmers were also trained in climate-smart agriculture practices, while 52 benefited from the Poultry Value Chain Development Programme during the 2025/26 financial year. 

DAPEES reported that only a few farmers benefited from the Namibia Agricultural Mechanisation and Seed Improvement Project and called for the region to be allocated its own budget for the Dairy Value Chain Development Programme to ensure equitable access and sustainability.