The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform in Namibia has called for tenders for the supply and delivery of 160 mahangu and maize thrashers for the Agricultural Mechanisation Seed Improvement Project (Namsip).
The ministry invited bids for 100 mahangu thrasher machines, while in the other it invited bids for the supply of 60 maize-thrasher machines. According to ministry spokesperson Jona Musheko, the equipment is part of the mechanisation programme funded through an African Development Bank loan.
Namsip is implemented by the ministry in support of the developmental objectives set out in Namibia’s high-level plans and strategies. These include Vision 2030, the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5), the Harambee Prosperity Plans, the ministry’s five-year strategic plan, and the Growth-at-Home strategy.
Seed multiplication.
The project is implemented over a period of five years from April 2018 to December 2022. According to Musheko, the beneficiaries under this project are individual farmers, cooperatives, farmers’ associations, and private entities, including commercial farmers and seed processors.
The ministry called for expressions of interest for individual farmers, cooperatives, and other entities in the 10 crop-growing regions to register as potential seed growers for mahangu, maize, sorghum and cowpea.
Farmers were selected based on set criteria for seed multiplication. All selected seed growers were trained on seed multiplication and seed selection. The ministry provided and will continue to provide selected seed growers with foundation seed of major staple crops (mahangu, maize, sorghum and cowpea) at a cost of up to a maximum of 30 hectares.
