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Namibia: Aussenkehr farmers still heavily in debt
The Orange River Irrigation Project (Orip) small farmers still struggle to provide for their families, as debt cuts into their incomes. About 60% of every farmer's profit goes to paying back a N$7 million debt (€475,000) they collectively owe the Agricultural Business Development Agency (Agribusdev).
In addition to this, 20% of every farmer's profit goes to paying off a debt of N$1,5 million (€102,000) to Agribank. This means they are only left with about 20% of the proceeds from their produce. These figures were revealed at a meeting Agribusdev convened with the farmers last Thursday at Aussenkehr to share information about profits they had earned for the past production season.
Allafrica.com states that the farmers earned N$1,5 million (€102,000) from their grapes, and received N$624,715 (€42,000) for the dates. It was also revealed that they exported 15,376 boxes of grapes during the 2017 production season, compared to just 5,506 the year before.