Crop failures severely impact food security

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform (MAWLR) on Thursday stated that the food security situation in the country has significantly deteriorated during 2022/23.

In the ministry’s Crop Prospect, Food Security and Drought Situation report issued to Nampa on Friday, MAWLR Executive Director Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata stated that the deterioration was a result of highly unfavourable agricultural production during the 2022/23 cropping season.

“It has been observed that the majority of crop farmers have experienced crop failure, which has consequently severely impeded their ability to replenish their food reserves. A considerable number of households in the key communal crop producing regions have reported a depletion of their harvest from the previous season, and they are now relying mainly on the market and drought relief food in some regions for sustenance,” the ED said.

In the Zambezi Region, the household food security situation has not seen substantial improvement despite the recent harvest, she said.

In the same report, Nghituwamata stated that grazing conditions in most parts of the country have become significantly limited, which is largely attributed to poor rainfall conditions and dry spells which dominated the 2022/23 rainfall season.

“The grazing conditions in the ||Kharas Region have deteriorated. Conditions range between a poor and fair state and have not made any significant recovery due to the below average rainfall received this season,” she said.

Nghituwamata added that in the western and southern parts of the Hardap Region, the overall grazing in most areas is still between good to fair condition, except areas around Utuseb that did not receive rainfall this season leading to extremely poor and dry grazing.

In the Khomas Region, grazing is generally fair apart from the southern part where below normal rainfall was received, she said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency