Once fully operational, the envisaged 5,000-hectare irrigation scheme at Neckartal Dam, on the outskirts of Keetmanshoop, will provide sufficient produce for not only the domestic market but exports as well.

The government invested N$5 billion in the construction of the Neckartal Dam, making it the biggest investment the government has ever made in the ||Kharas Region.

The Minister of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, Carl Schlettwein, held an engagement with stakeholders on the envisaged development plans of the Neckartal Dam.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources says it will recommend the speedy implementation of phase II of the Neckartal Dam Irrigation Project.

The project's Phase II includes the development of 5,000 hectares of land for crop irrigation.

A Standing Committee member, Efraim Nekongo, said this during the committee's visit to the Neckartal Dam near Keetmanshoop in ||Kharas Region as part of its oversight function.

The government has allocated an amount of N$10 million in the 2023/2024 budget for the development of the Neckartal Dam Irrigation Project.

The project will run on two farms of a combined size of 11 000 hectares, acquired by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform.

Finance Minister Iipumbu Shiimi in his budget speech said that applications from private businesses to operate the Ndonga Linena, Uvhungu Vhungu, and Orange River Green Scheme Irrigation projects are still under evaluation.

All dams in Namibia are at 71.4% capacity. This represents a drop of 0.4% from the 71.8% recorded last week.

This information is contained in Namwater's Weekly Dam Bulletin. 

The bulletin indicates that Windhoek dams recorded the highest volume of 83.2%, with the Goreangab Dam standing at 100% capacity while Friedenau Dam is at 74.2%.

The southern dams have a total volume of 80.3%, with the Neckartal Dam recording the highest volume of 94.1% and the Naute Dam at 77%, while the Bondels Dam is empty.

Plans by the government to start developing phase two of the Neckartal Dam Irrigation Scheme are at an advanced stage.

Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said this during her familiarisation visit to the Neckartal Dam project near Keetmanshoop in the ||Kharas Region.

According to the Prime Minister, negotiations are ongoing between the Minister of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform and private crop farmers to invest in the Neckartal Dam Irrigation Scheme.

An inter-governmental delegation, led by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, which is in the ||Kharas Region to engage communities on the benefits of fishing, visited the Kameel River, a catchment area of the Neckartal Dam, to familiarise themselves with the situation on the ground.

The Kameel River on the banks of the Neckartal Dam was flooded after the area received above-average rainfall in recent years.

The flooding cut off a number of access roads and grazing fields for nearby farming communities.

A technical team led by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources is in the ||Kharas Region engaging communities upstream of the Neckartal Dam.

The aim of the visit is to explore the sustainability and feasibility of developing inland small-scale fisheries on the banks of the dam.

The inter-governmental delegation's first stop was at Snyfontein in the Berseba Constituency, where the majority of nearly 300 people living in the Snyfontein area are over the age of 60.