Namibia has achieved a milestone in its agricultural sector, with the country’s first commercially grown bananas now on supermarket shelves.

The bananas were harvested at the Etunda banana trial project in the Omusati Region. They are already available at Checkers Maerua Mall and other retailers in Windhoek, writes New Era Live.

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The breakthrough is being hailed as a significant step towards reducing Namibia’s dependence on imported fruit.

The project, led by the Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB) and agricultural solutions company AvaGro, produced 2.5 tonnes of bananas. The crop was planted in January 2025 as part of an effort to determine whether large-scale banana production is viable in Namibia.

Helping to cut the import bill

Bananas are Namibia’s second most-consumed fruit after apples. The country currently imports more than 7 000 tonnes annually, spending around R70 million each year on supplies from South Africa and other countries.

To address this, NAB and AvaGro entered into a partnership in 2023 to develop a local banana industry. The initiative included seedling production through tissue culture technology and field trials across several regions with suitable soils and climates.

The trial project took place in Namibia’s Omusati region. Image: Unsplash

With the first harvest completed, the project has already expanded beyond Etunda. Additional banana plantings have been established at Singalamwe in the Zambezi Region, Divundu in Kavango East and Oshivelo.

NAB chief executive officer Fidelis Mwazi said the long-term goal extends far beyond trial production.

“The ultimate target from these trials is that once we are satisfied with the outcome, we would like to upscale this initiative into production and move into the commercial aspect, where farmers can come on board and participate in banana production,” he said.

Expanding Namibia’s banana future

The expansion aims to test the feasibility of large-scale commercial banana farming across different parts of the country.

The ultimate target from these trials is to create opportunities for local farmers while strengthening Namibia’s agricultural sector and reducing reliance on imports.

“The banana trials form part of NAB’s broader research and development programme, which also includes ongoing research on crops such as pearl millet, maize, wheat, potatoes, and sesame, as well as seed production initiatives aimed at strengthening Namibia’s crop value chain and improving local agricultural resilience,” Mwazi added.

Across Africa, banana production has been growing at an average rate of 3%. Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon are among the continent’s leading producers.

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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JUNE 13: Tommy Fury punches Eddie Hall during the Beauty versus The Beast fight night at AO Arena on June 13, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

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Fans packed the AO Arena for the Misfits Boxing event, and Tommy Fury took care of business in the main event. Fury outboxed strongman Eddie Hall en route to a majority decision win.

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The judges for the fight were Tony Bellew, Derek Chisora and Misfits heavyweight champion Chase DeMoor (59-56, 58-56, 57-57, respectively). Fury employed the same kind of strategy that his former opponent Jake Paul used against Anthony Joshua — only Fury was successful.

Fury moved around throughout the six-round fight. He aimed to gas Hall out, and it worked. Hall couldn't catch Fury, despite the rounds being two minutes instead of three. Despite that, DeMoor, who wants to fight Fury next, scored the fight for Hall.

Before you ask how that can happen, consider this is Misfits Boxing, and they play by their own rules.

The card was entertaining despite a lack of conventional boxing skill and polish. We saw consistent Misfits headliner Anthony Taylor crash out after his fight with Matty Floyd ended in a no contest.

Taylor suffered some sort of eye injury that he seemed to believe came as the result of cheating from Floyd's corner. Taylor kept yelling about Icy Hot in his eyes, which could suggest he believed some sort of substance was on Floyd's glove and got into his eyes.

There's no confirmation on that piece, but the fight did officially end in a no contest.

Here's a look at the rest of the results from a wild night of fights in Manchester.

• Armz def. Big Stacks via TKO, round 4 (heavyweight) — Contest stopped in the fourth after Armz broke through with sustained pressure and forced the referee to wave it off. This fight had one of the wildest rule sets I've ever seen in combat sports. It was all body punches, and somehow Armz still got the stoppage.
• Ibiza Final Boss def. Jordan McCann via majority decision — Close fight on the cards, with one judge seeing it level and two edging it for Ibiza Final Boss after a competitive set of rounds. McCann got away with several illegal tactics. He tried to bite Ibiza, secured a double-leg takedown and threw elbows. It was pretty disgraceful.
• Scott def. G. Rodrigues via KO/TKO, 1:48 of round 2 — One of the few stoppage wins of the event.
• Adam Brooks def. Rahim Pardesi via unanimous decision — Brooks swept the cards over Pardesi, banking rounds behind more consistent work according to the event listing. This fight was massively one-sided from the outset.

Both Fury and Hall are good fits for Misfits, although Hall would be better suited to take a Misfits MMA fight the next time around. He has trained in the sport for two years, and his size and strength are undeniable.

Fury doesn't seem to want to commit to anything besides the occasional, low-risk fight. Who knows when we'll see him back in the ring? He didn't look terrible, and perhaps that's the most frustrating thing about his boxing career.

You can't help but wonder how good he could have been if he'd taken it more seriously. As it is, he likely secured a solid payday for his efforts, and he further solidified himself as the biggest name in the promotion.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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