The government has been urged to intervene in the face of looming food insecurity in the country, mainly in the communal areas.
Recorded data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform shows that 153 000 tonness of cereals, mainly mahangu, have been harvested.
This is 9% lower than the last season’s harvest of about 168 200 tonnes, but 23% above the past 10 years’ average production of 124 200 tonnes.
A food security and drought situation report for July, produced by the agriculture ministry, is therefore calling for intervention to avert hunger.
According to the executive director of agriculture, water and land reform, Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata, all the crop-producing regions in the communal areas recorded a significant decline in the crop harvest, contributing only about 20% to the national cereal production.
“This is attributed to the poor crop-growing conditions that were seen in the form of delayed onset of the rainfall season, erratic rainfall patterns and prolonged dry spells,” she says in the report.
This has resulted in calls for the Office of the Prime Minister to continue providing drought-relief food to households faced with food insecurity in the Kunene region, parts of the Omusati and Erongo regions, and the Omaheke, //Kharas and Hardap regions until the situation normalises.
Since the start of the 2022/23 rainfall season, the country has received below normal rainfall, with a considerable delay in the onset.
“Most parts of the country only received productive rainfall in January. In addition to sporadic and insufficient rainfall patterns which have dominated the season, the country noted severe and prolonged dry spells in December, February, March and April, which led to poor agricultural production and pasture establishment,” Nghituwamata says.
According to the executive director, the food security situation has significantly deteriorated as a result of highly unfavourable agricultural production conditions during the 2022/23 cropping season.
“It has been observed that the majority of (communal) crop farmers have experienced crop failure, which has consequently severely impeded their ability to replenish their food reserves,” she says.
She says the commercial area alone, on the contrary, witnessed an improvement in the harvest, contributing about 80% to the national cereal production. This improvement was primarily attributed to a notable increase in the planted area by numerous commercial producers.
The report says a considerable number of households in the key communal crop-producing regions have reported a depletion of harvest stock from the previous season, and they are now relying on the market and drought-relief food in some regions for sustenance.
In addition, it is projected that the recent harvest will be exhausted between August and December, leaving these households in a precarious state of food insecurity.
Grazing conditions in most parts of the country have significantly depleted, which is largely attributed to poor rainfall conditions and dry spells which have dominated the 2022/23 rainfall season.
The overall water supply situation is of major concern in many areas of the county, due to poor rainfall received for the season. As such, most water catchment areas have already dried up as they did not receive enough water inflow.
Other recommendations are that the government should consider the roll-out of food assistance and livestock support across the remaining eight regions, including the entire Omusati and Erongo regions.
In addition, the agriculture ministry has been urged to continue with and fast-track the process of constructing, rehabilitating and excavating earth dams and boreholes in areas where communities are faced with water shortages, and to ensure sufficient and timely provision of agricultural inputs and ploughing and planting services, in preparation of the 2023/24 cropping season.
“The Ministry of Works and Transport must strengthen capacity in accurate weather forecasting and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism must control the number of elephants and buffaloes in the conservancies in the Zambezi, Kavango East and Kavango West regions,” the report recommends.
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