Introduction: the national context
Since it gained independence in 1990, Namibia has made considerable strides towards improving the lives of its rural population. Provision of water, construction and upgrading of roads, and a revitalised health and education system have all been priorities of the national government. With the election of local and regional authorities in December 1992, many Namibians have local representation for the first time. However, in addition to service provisions, the nation faces the complex challenge of promoting viable economic development for rural people. A century of colonial practices of land dispossession, exploitation of labour, and underdevelopment has resulted in impoverished black rural areas. Both the German and South African colonizers created ethnically-based reserves and restricted movement into the settler zone in order to limit productivity of African farmers and to force rural men to provide cheap labour for mines, commercial farms, fishing enterprises and urban businesses. The features of the labour reserve economy persist today. In some regions, the prevalence of outward migration has resulted in rural households consisting mainly of the elderly, women and young children.
Although many households rely heavily on remittances or wages of family members employed in urban areas, the responsibility for food production and preparation and the overall wellbeing of the household, continues to fall on women. The 1991 census reveals that women account for 59% of all those engaged in skilled and subsistence agricultural work. Indeed, rural females comprise the largest demographic group in Namibia (see Table 1). Yet, they remain disadvantaged by unequal access to land, labour, agricultural services and assets, natural resources and employment opportunities. Rural women are also underrepresented in decision-making and leadership positions.
Policies have yet to adequately take account of the multiple roles of Namibian women as farmers, food providers and income earners. Effective policy reforms are in part constrained by the dearth of gender-based statistics and qualitative research on gender roles and relations.1 The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, to be held in Beijing in 1995, provides a timely impetus to review and assess progress in integrating the problems of rural women in development policies and strategies. This report, commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, considers gender imbalances in the social and political systems and economic processes which underpin agricultural and rural development in Namibia. It further highlights activities and programmes of the government, non-governmental sector and the international community which aim to enhance the productive capacity and social welfare of rural women. The statistics and information presented in the report have been drawn from previous studies, including socio-economic research and feasibility studies, as well as from interviews with representatives of government departments, non-governmental organisations, and international agencies which work with rural women.2 Supporting data is compiled in the Appendix Tables. The author used feedback from a consultative workshop with regional and national NGO and extension staff to refine the analysis and to evaluate existing programs and future recommendations. The findings have been incorporated in The Namibia National Report for the Fourth World Conference on Women, which assesses the situation of women throughout the country.
Although sparsely populated, Namibia is home to over a dozen ethnic and language groupings, who exhibit diverse economic adaptations, socio-political structures and cultural traditions.3 Ecological and historical factors have also shaped a range of rural settlement patterns and farming systems. The country is predominantly semi-arid, but immense variations in climate, soil and topography exist. Rainfall decreases from northeast to southwest with over 600 mm annually in Caprivi, to 200 mm in Mariental, and to as little as 15 mm along the Atlantic coast. Central Namibia consists of grass and scrub savanna plateaus, and is bounded on the west by the Namib desert. Cattle production predominates in this area, although the fertile soils and higher rainfall of the Otavi-Tsumeb-Grootfontein triangle support wheat and maize production.
Further south, vegetation becomes sparser, making the area better suited to goats and sheep. Many commercial farmers are successfully ranching game and karakul sheep, as even large farms (7,000 ha or more) do not ensure profitable cattle production. Livestock production is also the mainstay of inhabitants in the Northwest, which is characterised by desert and bush savanna. The former reserves of Damaraland and Kaokoland lie in this agro-ecological zone.
In the North, higher rainfall and seasonal rivers make crop production possible. Residents in the Owambo regions, which include bush savanna and the seasonal floodplain of the Cuvelai river, practice a mixed system of millet and sorghum production and livestock production, primarily cattle and donkeys. The Okavango region has a similar agro-pastoral system, although there is limited cultivation of maize. Forest products and inland fishing also contribute to local production. In the extensive floodplains of Caprivi, maize is the dominant crop, with cattle raising and fishing as important components. Game, birdlife and diverse flora are abundant in Western Caprivi and the grasslands just south along the Kalahari Desert. It is here that Namibia's indigenous populations, including the Ju/'hoansi, have now permanently settled.
The country's surface area of 824,000 km2 is home to only 1.4 million inhabitants, yielding a population density of 1.7 per km2. However, this figure belies the immense regional variation in population density. Water availability is a major determinant of settlement patterns. Rural inhabitants are concentrated around the perennial rivers which form the country's Northern border, around seasonal rivers and floodplains, such as the Cuvelai system in the Owambo regions, and along human-made pipelines and water systems, such as the Eastern National Water Carrier which supplies residents in the otherwise dry areas in eastern and central Namibia. (Additional demographic information is provided in Tables 1-6.)
The racially-biased land policies have also skewed population distribution. Just over 4,000 farmers, primarily white, control 44% of agriculturally useable land. In contrast, 67% of the population currently reside in communal areas, comprising only 41% of agricultural land, not all of which is useable.4 Although allocation of land within these areas remains communally-based, the regions themselves are largely colonial creations. In the North, the German and South African regimes approximated existing boundaries to confine people to the reserves. In the South and East, people were removed, by war or apartheid practices, to marginal areas.5 These policies ensured that settlers owned the superior grazing land in the central areas. The subsequent shortage of land and labour created a dualistic agricultural system: black subsistence farming, in which women constitute the majority of producers and white commercial farming, in which black farmworkers provide the bulk of labour.
Seventy-nine percent of the total population is involved in agriculture. However, the migratory labour system is by now entrenched. There is growing urbanization as job seekers stream to the capital and other towns. Indeed, the growth of rural towns and centres, the fluidity of households with links to both environments and the system of food and cash transfers have blurred the line between urban and rural.
The availability of cash income has become the main determinant of household food security. In arid regions, such as Karas, Erongo, and Otjozondjupa regions, food security is directly related to purchasing power. Although sale of livestock is an important contributor to cash income, wage employment and pensions have become the mainstay of daily subsistence. Similarly, in other areas, households cobble together income from agricultural and nonagricultural sources in order to overcome food shortfalls due to low yields or to fill the gaps when off-farm income declines. For most households agriculture is a supplementary but essential source of income.
Pressure on the land and natural resources remains high and, ironically, this is exacerbated by the shortage of labour and assets in many households. Those who cannot afford to hire shepherds, for example, must graze stock in areas closer to the homesteads. Former systems of transhumance, which maximised grazing, have also been disrupted by the fencing off of communal areas by large-scale communal farmers. The growing work burden on women also prompts them to overutilise wood, water and other resources. Deforestation and erosion are prevalent throughout Namibia.
In the wake of concerns that commercial sectors would be nationalized, the new nation has instead implemented pragmatic policies to maintain private sector leadership in the economy, to encourage foreign investment and to avoid overreliance on international loans. Agriculture plays an important role in the national economy by generating revenue, by supplying food and products for domestic consumption and by providing employment. Commercial agriculture, primarily exports of beef and cattle, contributes approximately 10% of the GDP, thereby helping to diversify a national economy reliant on the country's declining mining sector. Namibia's economy is also closely linked to that of South Africa, which is Namibia's main import and export partner. Locally produced foods are often outpriced by imports from its larger neighbour. Nevertheless, an overarching economic strategy is the achievement of national food self-sufficiency as a first step towards reducing dependence on imports from South Africa. Finally, commercial agriculture directly employs over 30,000 farmworkers, who in turn support families and households in the rural areas. An estimated 22% of economically active Namibians are unemployed, and despite poor wages and working conditions, the sector contributes to stemming the tide of unemployment.
The government is committed to redressing the inequities between the communal and commercial sectors. However, given the uncertain economic climate, it has acted with caution in its efforts to reform the commercial agriculture sector. "Affirmative action" policies in the form of subsidized agricultural support services may not be financially viable. The redistribution of land has met with resistance from commercial farmers while some economists fear it would hinder commercial agriculture and so jeopardize an important revenue base.6
Programs for the communal sector are often designed on the basis of commercial farming models, and view productivity based solely on the production for market. Commercial farming systems are inappropriate for evaluating and improving agriculture in communal areas, where the value of agriculture and 'by products' such as draught power and milk, contributes to multi-stranded livelihood strategies. The limited reforms to date have mainly served elite farmers and further increased the growing disparities among communal farmers within and between regions and across the gender line.
