Members of Parliament scrutinised the N$1.3 billion budget allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, raising concerns over funding sustainability, equitable distribution of marine resources, agriculture decolonisation, and water harvesting strategies.

The debate centred on fishing rights, ecosystem protection, and ensuring Namibians benefit fairly from marine wealth. AR leader Job Amupanda called for "serious decolonisation" of agriculture, beyond issues like foot-and-mouth disease.

Ephraim Nekongo from the Swapo Party urged prioritising ecosystem protection: "The time has come to really prioritise. If those trawlers... are destroying our ecosystem and catching too much of our fish, [we must act]."

IPC MPs echoed calls for equity. Michael Mulunga said: "We need a model that is more equitable to ensure as many Namibians benefit from our marine resources as possible." Alosius Kangulu criticised commercial vessels: "The government has allowed [them] to do fishing within the 200 [nautical mile] isobath, nearly exactly as they are destroying the ecosystem."

NDP leader Lukato Lukato advocated support for local fishermen through subsidies, while UDF MP Nico Somaeb proposed allocating fishing quotas to local councils for infrastructure: "Instead of assisting our national coffers, we can... allocate [to] local authorities to plough back into infrastructure development."

Minister Inge Zaamwani agreed that fishing seasons, which stretch from January to December for horse mackerel and from November to September for hake, could be limited. She also defended quota auctions by stating, "The purpose of auctioning our quotas is to determine the true market price of our fishery products." Because if we rely on those with fishing rights, they will never tell us the true market value of our fishing products…"

MPs also pushed for better floodwater management. Nelson Kalangula from the IPC said, "Flood water can be channelled to save the nation." Michael Mwashindange, also from IPC, added: "We could use this water... to seriously harvest it so that we turn around our agriculture, especially in those places that are flooded year in, year out."

AR MO Esther Haikola-Sakaria called for rehabilitating village wells: 'Why doesn't the ministry go and rehabilitate these wells...?' They just need a little bit of touch-up." Ambrosius Kumbwa, from APP, urged re-assessing schedules to avoid "unnecessary complaints day and night."

Zaamwani acknowledged the long-discussed issue: "The harvesting of flood water has been a discussion... for quite a long time, and we are going to make a specific plan to see how we can do that and where we can start, at least even if we can do one or two during this time in our office."

Some MPs, like Festus Thomas (BCP), deemed the budget insufficient: "This budget is too small for us to start fighting [for] water and giving every Namibian water... I think next year the Minister of Finance must do better."