Popular Democratic Movement president McHenry Venaani has voiced concern about expensive land and farms in Namibia, saying there is a need to regulate their purchase prices.

Continued failure to do so, according to Venaani, will result in prime farms being sold to foreigners and out of reach for Namibians.

Venaani was speaking at the opening of PDM's Central Committee meeting at Otjiwarongo.

"I want to call on President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to really look at this matter as a matter of priority. Farm prices in Namibia are equal to those for European buyers, and a farm at Grootfontein, 2000 hectares, costs N$30 million. Now, if there's a willing buyer and a willing seller, if the willing seller is able to sell to Europe but the willing buyer, who's a Namibian, cannot afford it, we need to start regulating the exorbitant prices of our farm prices; otherwise, our people will never have access to land."

Venaani also wants the government to invest in desert farming as opposed to setting up new green schemes for value chains and employment opportunities, as envisioned in the NDP6 agenda.

Currently in Africa, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt are undertaking desert farming, he said.

"We are saying, President Nandi Ndaitwah, building two more green schemes will not create the jobs that we want. It will help with food security, but it's not enough. For us to absorb 500-plus Namibians that do not have jobs, something major must be done, and we are saying develop a desert farm, put young Namibians there that are trained in agriculture, put drip irrigation, and desalinate water from the sea so that we can be able to put Namibia at the next level going forward."

Ahead of the Regional Councils and Local Authorities elections, Venaani urged members to mobilise themselves to tackle daily issues such as lack of proper sanitation, water, housing, and electricity facing locals in their areas.