The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources has expressed disappointment with the state of the Kalimbeza Rice Project in the Zambezi Region. 

The manager of the Kalimbeza Rice, Patrick Kompeli, informed the standing committee of challenges faced by the project, which brought production to a standstill for a number of years.

These include broken machinery, lack of repairs due to lack of operational funds, and vandalism, particularly of the farm fence by members of the surrounding community. 

Also falling short of expectation is water distribution.

This despite the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water & Land Reform's appointment of a consultant to level the soil in preparation for irrigation, which is expected to happen between August and January. 

That should be followed by harvesting in March and April for the short variety, while long varieties will be harvested by April and May.

Standing Committee on Natural Resources Chairperson Tobie Aupindi expressed disappointment at the state of affairs, noting that the Kalimbeza Rice Project was envisioned to improve food security beyond the region. 

He recalled the good intentions with which Founding President Sam Nujoma had begun the project, bewailing the current disastrous state of it.

The committee, he said, would present its report to the chamber for the matter to be attended to 'as a matter of urgency'. 

"And seriously, I think people should be held accountable; it's appalling to see this project like this when it could be feeding Namibians."

With no petty cash to attend to broken machinery, Dr. Aupindi said the project is forced to follow long procurement processes as a result. 

In terms of procurement, he stressed the serious need to decentralise the operational framework and look at each project on its own, instead of applying a generic framework as currently handled from Windhoek.

"The potential is here, the water is here, the land is here, but what is not here is proper management, right from the ministry itself, from the corporate office in Windhoek all the way down to the project, and I think the transition from the wing needs to be accelerated in order for this project to become sustainable. We are going to take this very seriously."

The Chairperson called on other institutions and agencies to equally heed the President's call to achieve food security and economic stability.