Subsistence farmers brace for dry season

With subsistence farmers in northern Namibia deeply worried about poor harvests, agriculture ministry officials say they are hard at work finding solutions as a dry season looms.

Solutions include the possible provision of fodder for animals and grain to supplement household harvests.

Okongo constituency councillor Efraim Shipindo said they anticipate very poor grazing conditions as a result of insufficient rainfall this season.

Livestock farmers have already approached his office asking for assistance, he confirmed.

Shipindo said he has engaged headmen, headwomen and traditional leaders in the area to record the hardest-hit households.

“We have grabbed the opportunity to start assessing the situation. It's very scary and concerning, but I told the farmers not to panic. Government will do its best, and if we work together, we shall overcome,” he said.

Shipindo said farmers have asked to graze livestock in neighbouring Angola, a request being considered by both governments.

No one should die of hunger

During her budget motivation last week, deputy minister of agriculture Anna Shiweda said late president Hage Geingob emphasised in 2018 that agriculture has the potential to transform the economy.

Shiweda quoted Geingob, who had said: “No Namibian should die of hunger during and after the Harambee Prosperity Plan."

Shiweda stressed that her budget presentation was taking place against the backdrop of a year marked by below-normal and sporadic rainfall patterns.

The impact has particularly been felt in the agriculture sector which is the mainstay and lifeline for 70% of the Namibian population in terms of their livelihoods.

“This is yet another manifestation of the reality of climate change and climate variability phenomena, which requires us to rethink our agricultural production systems and strategies,” Shiweda said.

Food insecurity

Shiweda said in the regions where good rainfall was received during the first half of the season, farmers managed to cultivate their fields.

They took advantage of both old and newly acquired government tractors and matching implements that were distributed to constituencies throughout the country.

Shiweda said while the season began on a hopeful note, with signs indicating a good crop production year, farmers' high expectations for a good harvest "started fading away as the season progressed due to insufficient production rain that was much needed to support further crop growth."

She warned that "Namibia will most probably experience wide-spread crop failures, which will result in serious food shortages."

Imports needed

She said looking at the food balance sheet, the indications are that the country will experience a high food deficit, especially for staple cereal crops such as maize and pearl millet.

Shiweda was quick to add that many SADC countries, such as South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia, on which Namibia often relies for cereal imports, also received below-normal rainfall, significantly reducing their cereal production.

“This means that we will have to import cereals from other sources outside the SADC region. This in turn means a high cost of the domestic food basket for local consumers. This situation is yet another wake-up call for us, as a country, to relook at our food production systems and come up with innovative climate-smart strategies that will make the agriculture sector more responsive and resilient to the impact of climate change and climate variability,” she said.

Shiweda motivated a budget of N$1.9 billion for the 2024–2025 financial year. This represents an 8.8% increase compared to last year’s allocation of N$1.8 billion.

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