The Shadikongoro Irrigation Green Scheme Project in the Kavango East Region generated an income of N.dollars 7 million, of which N.dollars 3.5 million was recorded as profit, during the 2023 cropping season.

This was revealed by the Executive Director (ED) in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform (MAWLR) Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata during a visit by the ministry’s top management to the green scheme on Monday.

‘I am impressed with Shadikongoro Green Scheme’s performance in the last cropping season. They made a total of N.dollars 7 million, of which N.dollars 3.5 million is their profit. This will not be the first and last,’ she said.

Nghituwamata said this year she expects cooking oil in the market made from sunflowers planted at the green scheme, adding that 24 hectares of sunflowers were planted at the project to revive the sunflower processing facility.

In addition to the 24 hectares that are being harvested at the Shadikongoro Green Scheme Irrigation Project, another 16 hectares of sunflowers a
re being harvested at the Sikondo Green Scheme Irrigation Project in the Kavango West Region, which it supplies to Shadikongoro.

‘The plan is to process the sunflower seeds into cooking oil at the Shadikongoro processing plant on the farm. We started harvesting the sunflowers on 06 May 2024 and processing of the sunflower seeds will start thereafter,’ Nghituwamata noted.

Shadikongoro Green Scheme employed 60 temporary workers to harvest the sunflowers, and more workers will be employed temporarily to work at the oil processing plant, she indicated.

The ED was accompanied by directors such as Dr Elijah Ngurare, Albertina Shilongo, Petrus Nangolo and Messag Mulunga, as well as a representative from the United Nations World Food Programme, Sem Mandela.

Meanwhile, during her 2024/25 budget motivation of the Agriculture Ministry, Deputy Minister Anna Shiweda said that during the 2023/2024 financial year, MAWLR received N.dollars 120 million which was used for the repair and maintenance of ageing irrigation inf
rastructure, procurement of new tractors and implements at government operated green schemes.

During the 2024/25 financial year, an amount of N.dollars 65 million has been allocated to the green scheme projects, which is a 54 per cent reduction from the last allocation of N.dollars 120 million.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency