Seeding at the Musese green scheme in the Kavango West region has started in earnest, and the man who is privately operating the green scheme is hoping to harvest 4 000 tonnes of maize next year.
Gerard Engelbrecht, a planting consultant at the Musese green scheme, says they are planting maize on 509ha of land.
The land is 619ha in total.
Engelbrecht says the scheme will be planting soya beans on 30ha, while 80ha will be used for cover crops, such as mahangu, sorghum and beans.
He says one of the challenges the green scheme is facing is poor sand soil.
The scheme applied clay soil with lime and finer material in the field to enhance the soil in July, he says.
Productive land is one of the world’s most valuable assets in banishing poverty and creating shared prosperity, Engelbrecht says.
This can, however, only be achieved if enough nutrients are added to soil.
Engelbrecht says they did not have major problems when they started ploughing and planting last month, as fertilisers and seeds arrived on time.
“The only problem is the high cost of electricity to pump the water, which is prohibiting us to produce to the maximum,” he said.
He is hopeful that there would be no heavy downpours or strong winds in the area as this would reduce fertilisers.
Winni Metgzer, a private operator of the Musese green scheme, says he is hoping to harvest 4 000 tonnes of maize.
The last planting season was hampered by continuous power outages, which led to the withering of young mahangu crops, he says.
In May this year, Metzger says he built a 450kW solar energy plant at Musese in an effort to avoid loses due to frequent power outages in the Kavango West region.
“This is a long-term investment and the reason for this plan is to reduce the cost of power with about N$3 million,” he says.
Metzger is also a professional borehole driller and has thus far drilled 22 boreholes between Nkurenkuru and Katwitwi for both communities and schools.
He plans to drill two more for the Nzinze and Siku communities, he says.
Metzger says it would be good if all green schemes in Namibia could set up solar power plants as this would lead to a reduction in power costs.
Inaugurated in 1977, the Musese green scheme currently has 105 employees and employs about 200 temporary workers to assist with other activities.
The main aim of green schemes in Namibia is to achieve food security and to educate the future generations on agriculture.
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