US, Namibia Announce Five-Year $10M Farmer Cooperatives Funding Agreement

News in brief: Namibia and the United States have signed a five-year, $10 million co-funding agreement to promote the development of farmer cooperatives and small businesses in rural areas.

Namibia and the United States of America have signed a five-year co-funding agreement to promote farmer cooperatives’ developments. The US ambassador to Namibia, Randy Berry, disclosed the news to newsmen in the Southern African country’s capital city of Windhoek.

The partnership is a co-funding initiative of $10 million aimed at fostering the growth of farmers’ cooperatives, producer associations and small and medium sized enterprises in rural areas.

Randy Berry added that the agreement was brokered during the US Africa Leaders’ Summit in December, 2022, between the US African Development Foundation (USADF) and the Namibian government.

The ambassador further noted that the goal was to enhance competitiveness in national, regional, and international markets. He described the cooperation between both countries as flourishing and cited several successes.

In addition, Berry noted that the funding is instrumental in helping Namibia achieve its goals of ending HIV as a public threat by 2030. The US has been a large donor partner in its education, healthcare (especially HIV and AIDS), and conservation sectors. Some major programmes from this partnership includes PEPFAR, AGOA, and the MCA-N, all of which have made a significant direct and indirect impact.

Namibia, the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa has a population of 2.53 million people and is a stable multi-party parliamentary democracy. Agriculture, tourism and the mining industry – including mining for gem diamonds, uranium, gold, silver and base metals – form the basis of its economy, while the manufacturing sector is comparatively small.