Nearly 100 000ha of grazing have already been destroyed in a wildfire that has been raging in the Great Karas Mountains in southern Namibia for the past four days.

The latest financial woes of the Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) have raised concerns about the financial future of this state-owned entity. This was according Thinus Pretorius, chairperson of Namibia’s Livestock Producers’ Organisation (LPO).

Conflict between humans and Namibia’s growing elephant population can be described as a “problem of success”, says Colin Nott, a Namibian regenerative agricultural consultant.

Following a two-day workshop organised by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism in that country, Nott told Farmer’s Weekly that, at present, the Namibian elephant population was three times bigger than in 1990, as a result of the country’s “excellent wildlife conservation legislation”.

“Currently there is more wildlife outside our national parks than inside the parks. This means that game species such as elephant move into farming and communal areas. The problem is how to marry elephants and farming,” he said.

According to Thinus Pretorius, chairperson of the Namibian Livestock Producers’ Organisation (LPO), the influx of elephants into the commercial farming areas in the north-western parts of the country significantly intensified the effects of the drought.

He said elephants caused considerable damage to infrastructure by breaking fences, damaging dams and water tanks, and pushing over windmills.

“One elephant’s daily intake of food and water [also] equals that of 30 head of cattle,” said Pretorius.

It transpired from the workshop that the number of elephants increased from an estimated 7 680 in 1995 to about 23 660 by 2015.

The three Namibian agricultural unions, namely Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU) and the Namibia Emerging Commercial Farmers Union (NECFU), presented a joint draft position paper at the workshop, including national and regional actions to be taken.

According to Nott, the paper was still in draft form and the three unions were in the process of finalising a document on actions to be taken in an effort to mitigate the effects of human-elephant conflict in Namibia.

“Elephants are simply not compatible [with] commercial farming. However, the implementation of measures to mitigate the elephant problems is exceedingly expensive,” he added.

Mitigation expenses would require large-scale fundraising, and this was where real linkages with international role players came in. Nott said it was one thing for organisations to lobby for the protection and conservation of elephants, but it was another challenge to raise the high level of funds needed to manage the challenges for both elephants and humans.

Introduced without consultation, the levy was targeted at growers who did not have tax clearance certificates.

Farmers strongly opposed the tax, denouncing it as an ambush that would adversely affect their businesses. One of their fears was that the government would extend the tax to other crops in an economy where farmers are some of the least taxed enterprises.

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One of their fears was that the government would extend the tax to other crops in an economy where farmers are some of the least taxed enterprises.

Following the outcry, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made met in Harare on 3 April to find common ground but failed to reach an agreement. After consulting with fellow ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting, they met again on 5 April and agreed that the levy would be dropped.

After consulting with fellow ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting, they met again on 5 April and agreed that the levy would be dropped.

Announcing the scrapping of the levy afterwards, Made urged tobacco farmers to continue delivering their crop to auction floors.

“I am pleased that we have amicably resolved the matter and reached an agreement that is expected to satisfy farmers and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority [Zimra]. Farmers should not blame Zimra as it was working within the confines of the law.  Farmers should go on with their business,” he was quoted as saying in the official press.

Vice-president of the Zimbabwe National Farmers’ Union, Garikayi Msika, said that the government should consult farmers before taking decisions that affected their operations.

“In this case, we were never advised before the tax took effect, which is bad for business. However, we are happy that there was a swift correction,” he said.

Wonder Chabikwa, president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union, said that the reversal had been “a good decision”.

“I said when the tax was introduced that it was bad for agriculture and bad for the economy as a whole.  It caused much anxiety among our members but we are pleased the government agreed with us and scrapped it.  The tax was going to create a class of middlemen who have tax clearance certificates offering to sell farmers tobacco on their behalf.  They were going to charge the farmers for this service.”

The withdrawal of the tax came two months after Chinamasa was forced to drop a value-added tax he had imposed on meat and grain after a nationwide outcry.