Shadikongoro Green Scheme generates 7 million Namibian dollars

May 7, 2024 Vaseline stjohnson 0

Jona Musheko

The Shadikongoro Green Scheme irrigation project generated N$7 million during the last farming season, of which N$3.5 million was profit, agriculture executive director Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata has revealed.

He made the disclosure yesterday during his visit to the Kavango East-based green scheme.

“I am very impressed with the performance of the Shadikongoro green program in the last agricultural season. This will not be the first nor the last. The farm manager, Mutero Joseph, informed me that he hopes to make some profits again at the end of the current season,” he added.

The CEO is optimistic about the future of the green plan.

“We can assure the nation that cooking oil from the Shadikongoro Green Scheme will be on the market this year,” Nghituwamata said.

The Shadikongoro Green Project has planted 24 hectares (ha) of sunflowers to revive sunflower processing facilities.

In addition to the 24 hectares being harvested in Shadikongoro, there are another 16 hectares of sunflowers in the Sikondo Green Scheme.

The plan is to process the sunflower seeds into cooking oil at the Shadikongoro processing plant on the farm, Nghituwamata said.

“Therefore, we start harvesting sunflower on May 6, 2024 and thereafter the processing of sunflower seeds will begin. Furthermore, the Sikondo irrigation project has also planted 16 hectares of sunflowers to supply Shadikongoro,” he added.

Employment opportunities have also been created in the process.

“We employ 60 temporary workers to harvest the sunflower, and more workers will be hired temporarily to work at the oil processing plant,” said Joseph, the Shadikongoro farm manager.

Nghituwamata is paying a brief visit to the Shadikongoro Green Scheme irrigation project with his senior management, including deputy executive directors Elijah Ngurare, Albertina Shilongo, Petrus Nangolo and Messag Mulunga, as well as the representative of the United Nations World Food Programme, Sem Mandela.

During her budget motivation for 2024/25, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Anna Shiweda revealed that the ministry used N$120 million on the repair and maintenance of aging irrigation infrastructure, procurement of new tractors and implements in operated green schemes by the government, as well as the acquisition of production. tickets.

“During the 2024/25 financial year, an amount of N$65 million was allocated to green plan projects… this is a 54% reduction from the last allocation of N$120 million $,” Shiweda said at the time.

* Jona Musheko is a public relations professional at the Ministry of Agriculture.