Massive cereal deficit forecast for Namibia

Namibia would have to import 208,500 mt of cereal this year after late rains hit crop production in the country, the ‘Namibian’ reported on Monday. The Namibia Early Warning and Food Information System (NEWFIS), in its latest bulletin, forecast domestic cereal supply at just 90,700 tons this year due to late rains in the commercial cereal-producing area, commonly known as the “Maize Triangle” (Grootfontein, Otavi and Tsumeb), the report said. Namibia had a domestic cereal utilisation capacity of 299,200 mt and cereal-producing areas received above normal rainfall in October, but the subsequent three months were marked by below normal rainfall. In February, the rainfall pattern changed for the better when the areas recorded normal rain and favourable conditions continued up to the third half of March. NEWFIS said that as a result of the late rain, planting of crops in December was well below average and in several places no planting took place at all. “Only at the beginning of February 2001, with good rains, did planting and replanting in few cases start in earnest and, with continued favourable rainfall, continued through March,” the NEWFIS report said.