Republikein Newspaper

There is a severe shortage of food and water in Windhoek rural constituencies, Khomas governor Laura McLeod-Katjirua has said.

Speaking at the Khomas town hall meeting in Windhoek Thursday, the governor said after the state of emergency pertaining to drought was announced earlier this year, the region made an assessment to determine the effect of drought and the results were not pleasing.

She said there is a shortage of water for both human and animal consumption.

“Boreholes are dry… There is severe food insecurity as more vulnerable households are surviving on the drought relief programme,” she said.

The governor added that grazing areas in the region range between severe poor to poor and livestock body masses and conditions are rated poor to fair.

“This compressing situation in the region compelled us to immediately commence with registration of beneficiaries [and] as result 2 874 households were registered and submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister,” she said.

McLeod-Katjirua said after re-verification of the situation on the ground, the region registered 1 832 households to immediately benefit from the drought relief programme.

Out of 1 832 households earmarked to benefit from the drought relief programme, only 1 229 households are however currently benefiting as the supplies were insufficient.

The remaining 603 houses will start receiving support as from September.

Farmers

The governor said the region was directed by the ministry of agriculture, water and forestry to identify drought-stricken farmers to benefit from the drought relief programme. They have registered 271 farmers, who have a combined total of 2 171 cattle, 6 396 goats and 2 527 sheep.

To mitigate the water shortage, the region received N$1.5 million from the ministry to install and rehabilitate boreholes.

Three new boreholes will be drilled, while four will be rehabilitated in addition to the provision of five water tankers and 10 solar power systems that will be installed to replace faulty engines.

McLeod-Katjirua said the marketing incentive for livestock has picked up at a slow pace, explaining that only 18 claims of animal sales worth N$172 560 and 14 claims of fodder worth N$16 222 have been made so far in the region, with no transport or grazing claims recorded. - Nampa