By: Hertha Ekandjo
Agriculture deputy minister Anna Shiweda says that similarities in Namibia and Ethiopia’s agriculture sectors
present opportunities for the two countries to exchange policy and technical knowledge, and share experiences for the benefit of Namibia’s farmers.
She said this at the meeting with the delegation from the agriculture ministry of Ethiopia in Windhoek on Monday.
Ethiopia has a cattle population of about 65 million cattle compared to Namibia’s cattle population of 2.5 million.
The deputy minister said that agriculture is a key pillar of the economies of many African countries as it remained the economic and social mainstay of the majority of the population in African countries, particularly in view of the fact that 70 per cent of the population depended on this sector for its livelihood.
“I am sure that this economic status of agriculture also applies to Namibia and Ethiopia. For this reason, our cooperation in this important sector is befitting and embodies potential mutual benefits for our farmers as it will give us an opportunity to learn from each other in terms of agricultural policies, strategies and programmes,” she expressed.
She noted that one of the glaring similarities is the fact that the majority of the populations in the two countries depended on agriculture for their livelihoods.
According to Shiweda, the bulk of farmers in Namibia and Ethiopia are predominantly smallholder and subsistence in nature who practice mixed crop and livestock farming, and extensive livestock farming.
Furthermore, she said one of the main differences in the agriculture systems is that Namibia practised both commercial and communal livestock farming, and has a well-developed commercial livestock sub-sector, while, according to literature, the livestock farming system in Ethiopia seems to be mainly smallholder and communal in nature.
Ethiopia’s minister for livestock and fisheries sector, Firku Regassa stated that agriculture played vital role in the Ethiopian overall economy and poverty reduction efforts.
He mentioned that it contributed 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), 75 percent of employment and 80 percent of export earnings and livestock production is a key component of the agricultural economy of Ethiopia.
“The country has about 70 million cattle, 43 million sheep, 53 million goats, 8 million camels and 57 million poultry and the sub sector contributed about 40 percent of the agricultural GDP and generated 20 percent of the national GDP.
According to Regassa, the contribution of these resources to the household and national economy is also diversified from supporting the livelihood of the livestock producer to an important source of foreign currency earning which constitutes roughly 20 percent of export earnings and which is less compared to the potential.