At a recent information sharing session in Windhoek on 'Black Economic Empowerment in Agriculture,' the thrust of the discussions was not so much how to divide the BEE cake, but rather make the cake bigger. However in light of this, concerns emerged about how to bring more Namibian people on board in order to enable them to also participate in growing the economy through Black Economic Empowerment.

To date, agriculture is still the most important sector in the Namibian economy that employs 146,000 people out of a total of 410,000.

This means it employs 35 percent of the country's workforce, but only contributes up to 7,3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, and which has now dropped to 6 percent due to drought in 1995.

Given this background, Chief Executive Officer of the First National Bank of Namibia Lazarus Ipangelwa said it was disappointing not to see the fruits of Black Economic Empowerment in the country, due to lack of modernisation of communal farming. "While production in commercial areas is high and up to standard, communal areas where the majority of farmers reside have low productivity," he said adding that BEE in the agricultural sector should first deal with modernizing farming in communal areas.

Furthermore, the lack of modernization of farming in rural areas puts a severe strain on agricultural production and economic growth. "The communal land is still under the ownership of chiefs and traditional authorities. This has meant that no title deeds or property rights exist in communal areas. It can therefore be argued that as long as the communal land is locked up in the kinship system of asset ownership, properties such as land cannot be used as collateral and are of no value," explained the FNB chief.

Most of the farmers in the communal areas do not have the necessary equipment and skills to run a productive agribusiness. He told the gathering that one of the challenges of BEE in the agriculture sector is to find a mechanism that could help improve productivity on communal farms.

Through the National Resettlement Programme, NRP and the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme administered under Agribank, government has bought farms worth N$128-million and N$ 235 million respectively. This is being done in an effort to resettle landless black Namibians through initiatives like Black Economic Empowerment.

However, learning about BEE from neighbouring South Africa where it is already being implemented, experts like Professor Leon Jooste from the University of the Free State talks about making the BEE cake bigger in order to adapt to the global trade market. "Its not about the strongest that survives, but the most adaptable. We need to be adaptive and change the way we used to do things in the past. Black Economic Empowerment is not about buying the whites out, but primarily buying the blacks in," added Jooste.

This means that it is not only about redistribution of wealth, but rather looking at ways to make it inclusive in a changing environment. On the other hand, disparities still remain among the haves and have-nots in agriculture and it is against this background that experts like Mihe Gaomab from the Bank of Namibia feel that BEE should enable more people to come on board.

"Let's involve much more people in the economy. The majority of Namibians are excluded from the economic sphere, so the challenge is how to bring them back into the development process to escape poverty to become worthy agents of change," Gaomab said. He stressed that the imbalances first need to be addressed, before one can look at enlarging the economic cake.

Other sentiments that arose is that BEE is about transfer of knowledge and skills, while at the same time creating partnerships with all sectors of society to engage in a collective approach.

Taking a critical view on BEE, South African Lim-popo provincial Government Head of Department Bigman Maloa said ordinary people on the ground should be further encouraged to take part in the process. "Go the extra mile in learning and design strategies that will make you successful. BEE is people focussed, participatory and responsive," added Maloa.

The idea of BEE is not to import outside ideas but to work out a strategy that would best be workable in your own country. Maloa further urged more young and aspiring people to become involved in BEE, since they love taking risks. "An older person would not be so keen as to search the internet for agro-business news worldwide, while a much younger and risk loving person could do that. Therefore we need committed champions with a leadership vision," added the South African expert.

While the information sharing session came to an end, the ideas and sentiments that transpired from it continue to float around in order to find an efficient strategy on BEE in Namibia. The BEE on agriculture was organised by the Agricultural Economic Association of Namibia, AGRECONA. First National Bank sponsored the event to the tune of N$27 700.