Omusati addresses food security

Following the success of the 'Operation Tulongeni 2017', inhabitants of the Omusati Region have overwhelmingly donated towards region's food bank.

The regional food bank is aimed at contributing toward the national programme to alleviate hunger in the country. The palace of the Ongandjera Traditional Authority at Uukandongo has also announced that community members have successfully refilled mahangu stores that were emptied for them due to the severe drought and food shortages experienced last year.

Following good rains over the past season, President Hage Geingob launched 'Operation Tulongeni 2017' at Matheus Iilonga's mahangu field at Onamundindi village in the Ogongo constituency of the Omusati Region.

This programme is meant to motivate subsistence farmers to start working their fields.

In an interview with Namibian Sun yesterday, the Omusati governor Erginus Endjala said that the regional council, in collaboration with the disaster management unit under the Prime Minister's office, has rolled out the Omusati food bank under the supervision of the Agro-Marketing and Trading Agency (AMTA).

Here community members can deposit surplus from their harvests.

According to Endjala, the regional food bank currently only has storage facilities for mahangu. However, community members are welcome to donate any food products they have, which can be given to regional council offices for regional distribution.

“During the Oshipe Festival which took place in September at Onamundindi village near Ogongo, many farmers donated the surplus of their harvests to the regional food bank. They donated a variety of items such as mahangu, beans, watermelon, pumpkin and many others. Under the supervision of AMTA we store mahangu in the national silos at Tsandi. The other items have been distributed to various regional council offices to be given to the needy,” Endjala said.

Oshipe is a traditional Aawambo harvest festival where traditional food is cooked and thanks is given to the ancestors.

Endjala said that AMTA is monitoring the quality of mahangu donated to ensure that they are collecting healthy mahangu. He said that the region has so far collected two tons of mahangu.

“Since it is a national project we prefer mahangu from this season's harvest but those who have left over grain from last season are also welcome. There are many who still need food,” he said.

During last year November, the Ongandjera Traditional Authority decided to share its stored mahangu with the drought-stricken community. According to Queen Adelheid Mupiya, people came in large numbers and all 12 stores were emptied. However, after the harvest community members refilled them.

“Last year when we opened the stores people came in high numbers. We had to empty the stores so that we could give mahangu to everybody who needed food. After the good rainfall and the harvest, people started bringing mahangu to the palace to refill the stores. They did so without any invitation and we are so grateful,” Mupiya said.

Mupiya said apart from the mahangu donated by community members, the harvest from the palace's fields was also good. She said it is customary for those finding themselves without something to eat to receive mahangu from the palace.

She said that mahangu at the palace belongs to the community and it is simply stored at the palace for them. She said they are the ones who donate, cultivate and harvest it every year on the palace's land.

Mupiya said while trying to restore the Ongandjera culture they are aiming to complement the government's drought relief programme. According to the authority, the government's effort needs assistance due to the prolonged nationwide drought.



ILENI NANDJATO