Namibia’s Agricultural Business Development Agency (AgriBusDev) is seeking private investors to commit N$64 million (US$3.92 million) for the establishment of a sunflower processing plant to be located in the north-eastern town of Rundu, reports The Namibian.

 

AgriBusDev managing director, Petrus Uugwanga told investors visiting the country that the land for the project has already been secured and feasibility studies for the project have already been completed, adding that the sunflower seeds to be processed will be locally sourced, and skilled employees to operate the plant are also locally available.

 

The Agricultural Business Development Agency had been operated as the Agronomy Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry of Namibia, but was shifted into a state-owned company in November 2012.

 

With the goal of increasing the country’s agricultural output, strengthening food security, and agriculture’s contribution to the country’s GDP, the agency is managing eleven green schemes across the country under which it has approximately 4,050 hectares of land producing maize, grapes, butternuts, wheat, rice, barley, millet, potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, dates, bananas, sunflowers, cabbages, carrots, spinach, peppers, watermelons, onions, beetroots and gem squash. However, by 2030 the agency is targeting a land bank of 27,000 hectares under irrigation, according to Uugwanga.

 

The project is expected to be structured as a “build-operate-transfer (BOT) model”, according to Uugwanga, which will provide private investors with certain incentives from the private and/or public sectors to help finance, construct, maintain and operate the facility which will allow them to recover their investment and operating capital during a prescribed period. After which, ownership of the site is transferred to the state or local authority where it is located.