The Directorate of Veterinary Services under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform resumed the import and in-transit movement of live poultry, birds, and poultry products from Ireland.

Chief Veterinary Officer of the Directorate of Veterinary Services, Albertina Shilongo in a statement said the import of poultry from Ireland resumed, following the ban on the import and in-transit movement of poultry from that country in November last year.

The import ban was a result of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak reported in Ireland.

Emerging poultry farmers in the Oshana Region are advised to exercise patience and network with each other to generate meaningful income from their projects.

To address some of the challenges local farmers face, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform office at Ongwediva, held a one-day engagement with poultry farmers to explore ways and share information on how they can best benefit from the poultry value chain.

The farmers need to stand together and collaborate if they are to draw significant benefits from poultry farming.

The Minister of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, Calle Schlettwein, says that the completion of the second phase of the Neckartal Dam Irrigation Scheme on the outskirts of Keetmanshoop in the ||Kharas Region has the capacity to provide more than 10,000 employment opportunities.

Schlettwein was answering questions during a consultative meeting with stakeholders in the agricultural sector at Keetmanshoop.

Steve Swartbooi, a farmer in the area, was among the stakeholders who had questions and suggestions to put forward to the minister.

In an effort to improve sanitation in rural communities, the Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation Coordination in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform recently handed over a newly constructed communal ablution facility at Mungunda Village in Kavango East.

The facility is part of the community-led total sanitation program, which was introduced in 2008.

Agriculture Ministry, Carl Schlettwein highlights the disease-free status of beef exported to Ghana from abattoirs in the Northern Communal Area.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform says Namibian beef products exported to Ghana from the Northern Communal Area abattoirs is disease free, just like the meat procured from commercial areas.

Schlettwein condemned allegations making rounds on social media, as false and malicious, as propagated to Ghanaian authorities by a group of Namibian commercial farmers who are yet to be identified.

The National Horticulture Support Project and the Poultry Value Chain Development Scheme, which provide subsidized services to horticulture farmers, are geared towards job creation and increasing the household income of beneficiaries.

The Chief Agriculture Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform in the Hardap Region, Johanna Amakali, says that the project, which is in its second year, is a success.

A 17-year-old schoolboy, Antonio Araeb, and his mother established a poultry business in 2021 by buying 30 one-day-old chicks at a subsidized price from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Araeb's love for farming started at Rooi Duine Secondary School, where he is currently studying agriculture as his main subject.

"The Ministry of Agriculture also assisted us with the food tray and the water tray, which you can see there, and now we are doing the poultry business, which is going well."

Selected villages and settlements will soon have access to clean drinking water following the signing of an agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform and the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF).

The agreement provides for the construction of mini-desalination plants in ten regions.

In terms of the agreement, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform will provide N$15 million to the EIF to develop mini-desalination plants in rural areas.

Namibia has still not recorded flood water in the Cuvelai catchment from southern Angola.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform's Senior Hydrologist for the Cuvelai-Etosha basin, Leonard Hango, says a flash flood from the Cuvelai catchment is flowing towards the Namibia-Angola borders from the direction of Ondjiva and Namakunde. 

In an interview with nbc News along the Namibia-Angola border at Onghala Village, Hango said the flood waters have not yet reached the Namibian side but they are monitoring the situation.

Farming communities at Omipanda village in the Otjombinde Constituency have received a helping hand from the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform for the water woes. 

The ministry has provided them with water tanks and pipes and further intends to drill another borehole to remedy the situation.

At present, the community has been sourcing water from a distant village. 

Village Headman at Omipanda, Kavenambangu Kotjipati said his village has more than 500 head of cattle.