Pests ravage mahangu fields

Kenya Kambowe SHITAMBO Worms and locusts have invaded mahangu fields at Shitambo village in Kavango East, leaving subsistence farmers with nothing to harvest. When Namibian Sun visited the village recently, situated about 90 kilometres east of Rundu, the infested mahangu yields were clearly visible. The situation has left many farmers hopeless. One of the farmers, Nyama Katota, has lost about three hectares of mahangu to the pests. She said her family of 10 will find it hard to survive the setback.Disappointing “Last year it was drought and we got nothing out of our field. This year, we were blessed with proper rains and we worked so hard, aiming for a bumper harvest. Now this happened. It's very disappointing,” Katota said. She is one of many subsistence farmers suffering at the hands of this pest plague. The farmers told Namibian Sun that while the matter had been reported to the agriculture ministry's extension officer two weeks ago, they received no response until Ndonga Linena constituency councillor, Petrus Kavhura, intervened. When contacted for comment, Kavhura, who also visited the affected famers, expressed disappointment in how the situation was handled by the ministry. “I am very much disappointed by the ministry of agriculture because the matter was reported two weeks ago, but nobody showed up,” Kavhura said. All that effort The councillor added that it is disheartening to see how much effort people have put into their fields, just to be let down by officials who do not want to leave their offices and do the work they should be doing. Meanwhile, Berfine Antindi, the agriculture ministry's Kavango East deputy director, said her office had no knowledge of the situation. She however indicated that an expert from Rundu was deployed last Thursday to the affected community.

Pests ravage mahangu fields

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-16

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Pests ravage mahangu fields

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-16

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