WINDHOEK, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Rice production at the Kalimbeza Green Scheme, a national flagship project in Namibia's Zambezi Region is progressing well.
The scheme is projected to yield above 120 tonnes of rice, said project manager, Patrick Kompeli on Thursday.
"I am confident that we will have a rice yield of more than 120 tonnes, an increase from previous year's harvest," he said.
Production of short varieties of rice, namely: Sahel, Angola and Irga rice was also done in September 2016, planted on 70 hectares for commercial purposes.
According to Petrus Uugwanga, Managing Director of the Agricultural Business Development Agency, increased rice yields were achieved through research and other interventions.
These include the assistance to Namibia's irrigation projects by Chinese experts who completed a two-year program imparting farming skills at the Kalimbeza Rice Project.
The experts were deployed as part of an agreement on South to South Cooperation (SSC) signed in June 2014 between China, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and Namibia.
Meanwhile, following its full commercialization of Kalimbeza rice since 2015, the local production of rice has also been an import substitution to a great extent.
"This means that the 200 metric tonnes of rice that was supposed to be imported from somewhere else have been produced locally for the country," said Uugwanga.
In the interim, plans are underway to increase production of rice in the country. "It now time to upscale the production of rice at Kalimbeza. We need more land that we can develop as soon as possible," Uugwanga said.
The project is also underway in negotiations with government to supply rice to the various institutions. Enditem
