During the fierce veld fires in 2000 in Namibia, the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) decided to create a fund to give financial aid to farmers, farmworkers and any other persons who were wounded or died whilst fighting veld fires. Now this fund also helps farmers facing the drought.

Up to date the fund has paid a total amount of N$140 445,30 of which N$80 000 was for the flood victims in the north of Namibia.

The establishment of the fund:

The NAU further approached members of the agricultural family in 2000 including Meatco, Agra, Meat Board, Agronomic Board, Feedmaster, Namib Mills, AgriBank and Farmers Meat Market. They came together and decided to host an annual golf day to collect funds for these veld fire victims. It was decided that the NAU would administrate the fund and also arrange the golf days. Although the main source of funding of the Dare to Care fund is the proceeds of golf days, any other contributions to the fund are highly appreciated. In 2013 AgriBank and Farmers Meat Market resigned from the fund.

The fund helped the following people:

• In 2005 it was decided that the fund should also assist victims of natural disasters, farm attacks and other worthy causes.

• The fund inter alia paid for all funeral costs of the farm workers of the murdered Erasmus couple. The Namibian newspaper, Die Republikein, reported that eight people, including two children, were murdered on Kareeboomvloer farm near Kalkrand on Saturday, March 5, 2005. The murder is still described as one of the most gruesome mass murders in the history of Namibia.

• In 2008 an amount of N$30 000 was paid for water purification tablets for flood victims in the north of Namibia.

• During 2013 the fund also assisted the San Community in Ekonkolo in the Ohangwena region buying food  to the value of N$40 000 over a period of 12 months and arranged that the food was delivered to the San Community by Kunene for Christ.

• In 2016 the fund paid N$50 000 into the Willie Grobler Trust for medical assistance for Mr Grobler  (after Mr Grobler’s Medical Aid was exhausted).

Dare to Care also helps farmers in the drought:

Due to the drought that Namibia has been facing since 2013 – a national crisis in the agricultural sector – the whole agricultural sector, including the Namibia Emerging Commercial Farmers Union (NECFU), Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), and the private sector in Namibia, decided to join hands under the “Dare to Care” umbrella to make a contribution to all drought stricken farmers. These include communal, emerging commercial and commercial farmers across the country.

In March 2019 Dare to Care set themselves an ambitious target to collect N$10 million by end of March 2019 and it was their goal to subsidise the feed cost of farmers with a fixed subsidy of N$50/bag of animal feed, in order to help farmers to round off livestock for the market, while also assisting them to maintain their core breeding herds.

Another important principle of the assistance would be to not donate feed to farmers, but rather to make certain feeds more affordable through subsidisation. The agricultural retail outlets (such as Kaap Agri, Agra, et cetera) and their retail branches countrywide were used to reach farmers and these subsidised prices are available at all branches.

The management of the fund has appointed SGA Chartered Accountants and Auditors to perform a full financial audit on the fund to ensure accountability of all monies received and the distribution thereof. With the donation of the Capricorn Group and Capricorn Asset Management of N$200 000 on 25 November 2019, the fund has exceeded their target of N$10 million and is now standing at N$10 046 765.

The Namibia Agricultural Union would thanked all the donors of the fund – those who gave more than N$1 million and those who gave N$10. “We also thank everybody who organised fundraising actions for the fund. You all made this happen and with all the assistance, the fund was able to subsidise over 200 000 bags of feed. We also sincerely thank all participating retailers who assisted to ensure correct documentation is in place for auditing purposes. The NAU appointed additional personnel, at their own cost, to capture all claims, thus making more than 99% of all donated funds available for direct drought assistance to farmers,” a spokesperson of the Namibian Agricultural Union said.

“Although the aim of N$10 million was achieved, the intensifying drought continues.

Anybody who wishes to make a contribution, how little it may be, contact 061-237-838, fax 061-220-193 or e-mail: evg@agrinamibia.com.na.