Drought fear looms large

ELLANIE SMIT



Namibia faces a 150 000-tonne grain shortfall by the end of April this year, as drought conditions continue to worsen across the country.

Extremely poor rainfall since the start of the rainy season has caused a considerable delay in the cultivation of crops, exacerbated by a lack of fertiliser in some regions.

This is according to the latest Agricultural Inputs and Household Food Security Situation Report.

The report, released by the agriculture ministry, is an assessment done in the seven northern communal crop-producing regions for the period from 18 November to 18 December last year.

The main purpose was to assess the overall agricultural inputs situation and to find out the extent to which farmers were prepared for the 2018/2019 cropping season in terms of land preparation.

In addition, the mission assessed changes in household food security, the marketing of the 2017/2018 harvest, as well as water supply, livestock and grazing conditions.

According to the report, the total supply of grain in Namibia for the 2018/19 marketing season (May 2018 to 2019) stood at 200 500 tonnes, while the country was expected to consume 351 200 tonnes. That left a shortfall of 150 800 tonnes that would be covered by commercial imports, the report said.

By the end of December the country had imported 93 300 tonnes of cereals. That consisted of 69 900 tonnes of wheat, 22 000 tonnes of white maize and 1 000 tonnes of pearl millet. The imports resulted in a surplus of 2 500 tonnes of wheat.

“Although there were some imports of pearl millet/sorghum, there were over 2 600 tonnes of pearl millet/sorghum in the market. However, there are still about 62 600 tonnes of uncovered shortfalls for maize which under normal circumstances can be covered through further commercial imports,” said the report.

Household food security remained satisfactory in most regions following improvements in agricultural production over the last two seasons.

Households interviewed in the communal crop-producing regions said their harvest last year was enough to sustain them until the next harvest in May.

However, pockets of food insecurity were also reported in areas that suffered prolonged dry spells or floods during the 2017/2018 rainy season.

Many pearl millet and maize producers were able to sell their surplus to commercial millers, particularly to Namib Mills.

“However, due to limited demand from the millers, much of the grain is still in the market unsold, especially pearl millet,” the report said.

The problem of unsold grain was caused by the inability of the Agricultural Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA) to buy grain due to a lack of funds.

Grazing continued to deteriorate in many parts of the country because of poor rainfall in the first half of the season.

The situation was more severe in the southern regions, where poor rainfall had been experienced last season too.

There was a significant delay in the start of the rainy season across Namibia.

Since the first rains received at the end of October, there were no follow up rains in November and most of December.

Some parts of the country received productive rainfall at the end of December and early January and many farmers started with their agricultural activities.

“Be that as it may, poor rainfall conditions continue dominating the season and farmers should brace themselves for an imminent drought,” the report warned.

The report recommended that the agriculture ministry should advise farmers to prepare for drought by de-stocking.

It said timely provision of sufficient basic inputs and services should be ensured and crop farmers must be advised to plant drought-resistant crop varieties.

For the pocket areas affected by food insecurity, regional councils, with the assistance of traditional leaders, were advised to continue monitoring the situation and respond accordingly.