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Browsing by Subject "Agricultural land"

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    Livelihoods after land reform
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010) Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem
    In 1990, Namibia emerged from colonial rule with a skewed distribution of agricultural land and high levels of poverty. The new government led by SWAPO Party initiated a process to address the land question within the first few months of Independence. A National Conference on Land Reform and the Land Question in 1991 was the foundation on which the Namibian government developed its land reform programme. The Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation started in 1990 to acquire freehold farmland for subdivision and allocation to previously disadvantaged Namibians. This component of redistributive land reform was complemented by the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme (AALS) established in 1992. The AALS provided subsidised loans to previously disadvantaged Namibians to acquire large-scale commercial farms under freehold title.
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    Livelihoods after land reform: The impacts of land reform on livelihoods in Namibia: Section B
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010) Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem
    The first AALS farmers in Hardap obtained their land in 1992, and the most recent in 2003. In Omaheke, the first AALS farmer obtained his farm in 1992 and the most recent, a woman, in 2000. Thus in both regions the oldest AALS beneficiaries have been farming as such for 17 years. All 10 AALS farming households interviewed in Hardap Region were male-headed. Eight of the household heads were married with a civil marriage certificate, one was widowed and one was single. One farm was registered in a wife’s name while her husband waited for his AALS loan to be approved. All the others farms were registered in the names of the household heads. The AALS farm sizes ranged from 3 500 ha to 20 000 ha. In Omaheke, three male and two female household heads made up the AALS interview sample. The average age of the Hardap household heads was 52 years, with a median of 50. Twenty per cent were over 60 years of age. The average age of the Omaheke household heads was also 52, the youngest being 48 and the oldest 57. In Hardap, five farmers stated that they had received tertiary education, while the lowest standard of formal education attained was Standard 5 (Grade 7 under the new system).