Increased rice production addresses food security in Namibia

Rice production at the KalimbezaGreen Scheme, a national flagship project in Namibia's Zambezi Region is progressing well.

The scheme is projected to yieldabove 120 tonnes of rice, said project manager, Patrick Kompeli onThursday.

"I am confident that we will have arice yield of more than 120 tonnes, an increase from previousyear's harvest," he said.

Production of short varieties ofrice, namely: Sahel, Angola and Irga rice was also done inSeptember 2016, planted on 70 hectares for commercial purposes.

According to Petrus Uugwanga,Managing Director of the Agricultural Business Development Agency,increased rice yields were achieved through research and other interventions.

These include the assistance toNamibia's irrigation projects by Chinese experts who completed atwo-year program imparting farming skills at the Kalimbeza RiceProject.

The experts were deployed as partof an agreement on South to South Cooperation (SSC) signed in June 2014 between China, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of theUnited Nations and Namibia.

Meanwhile, following its full commercialization of Kalimbeza rice since 2015, the localproduction of rice has also been an import substitution to a greatextent.

"This means that the 200 metrictonnes of rice that was supposed to be imported from somewhere elsehave been produced locally for the country," said Uugwanga.

In the interim, plans are underwayto increase production of rice in the country. "It now time to upscale the production of rice at Kalimbeza. We need more land thatwe can develop as soon as possible," Uugwanga said.

The project is also underway innegotiations with government to supply rice to the various institutions.