Government assesses harvests

The Namibian government is currently conducting food assessments in rural areas to assess the latest harvest. This comes as millions of people in Southern Africa battle food shortages with three countries - Zimbabwe, Malawi and Lesotho - having already declared a disaster or a famine. The combination of poor weather conditions, with economic and political problems in the region, has had such an impact on food availability that the World Food Programme (WFP) issued an urgent appeal earlier this year for US $69 million. Namibia's major crops are millet, maize and wheat which form up to 60 percent of the population's total calorie intake. An emergency management unit is currently conducting assessments of the current harvest which will give an indication of crop successes and failures. The Namibian reported on Monday that crop harvests in the north have wilted and drinking water is becoming a problem in some areas. Governors in the Omusat, Oshana, Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions told the newspaper that villagers were flocking to their offices in search of food aid. They said about 800 people in Omusati, 7,000 in Oshana - over 3,000 of them orphans - had already registered for food aid and that mahangu (millet) crops in Oshikoto region had shrivelled up. According to a Southern African Development Community's food security bulletin earlier this year, crop prospects for the semi-arid country were compromised by late and erratic rains, the high cost of tractor hire and the poor condition of draught animals. Effective planting rains were only received late in January in most of the northern crop growing regions, especially in the Kavango and North Central regions. A WFP regional assessment is expected to be completed during May. The organisation is already helping about 25,000 refugees from Angola with food.