Kalimbeza cannot be allowed to fail
There are national projects that deserve a second chance.Then there are national projects that simply cannot be allowed to fail. The Kalimbeza Rice Project falls squarely into the latter category. For years, Kalimbeza has lurched from one crisis to another. Machinery breaks down. Irrigation systems underperform. Fences collapse. Livestock wander into fields and destroy crops. […]
There are national projects that deserve a second chance.Then there are national projects that simply cannot be allowed to fail. The Kalimbeza Rice Project falls squarely into the latter category.
For years, Kalimbeza has lurched from one crisis to another. Machinery breaks down. Irrigation systems underperform. Fences collapse. Livestock wander into fields and destroy crops. Funding is inconsistent. Bureaucracy slows even the most routine repairs. Parliamentary oversight has once again exposed a project operating well below its potential.
None of this is new. What is new is that Namibia is running out of excuses.
Kalimbeza is not a vanity project. It is not another government initiative that can quietly fade into obscurity without consequence. It sits in the Zambezi Region, one of the country’s most fertile landscapes, where water is abundant and the conditions for crop production are among the best Namibia has to offer.
If there is anywhere capable of becoming Namibia’s breadbasket, it is here.
That is precisely why Kalimbeza has become a litmus test—not only of agricultural policy, but of Namibia’s ability to manage its own development ambitions.
Every government speaks of food security.
Every national development plan speaks of value addition.
