By:Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus
Communal production of staple food has dwindled so badly in the 2022/23 season, grain like mahanguproduction fell by 54% from the10 year’s average communal production.
This implies that many villagers who used to be food sufficient will also join the urban dwellers in depending on retailers for their consumption needs.
According to data presented in the Crop Prospects, Food Security, And Drought Situation Report-July 2023, issued by the Ministry of Agricultural, Water and Land Reform, for this year’s harvest, only 20.5 metric tonnes of mahangu was produced, the worst production in four years.
The country produced 90.8 metric tonnes of mahangu in 2019/20; 55.2 metric tonnesin 2020/21, while last year, 44.7 metric tonnes was produced.
This made 2023’s production quite meagre for household consumption and filling up government silos.
Mahangu is mostly produced by communal farmers.
The crop is one of the staple grains especially for northern communities, and they produce it in their fields, storing it and milling it themselves to produce flour.
Mahangu/pearl millet recorded 20,500MT this season, which is 54% lower than last season’s production of 44,700MT and 54% below the 10-year average production of 44,500MT.
The low mahangu production also means that demand-pull inflation can also occur domestically as villagers will now depend on food on the shelves of shops increasing aggregate demand for food.
While those who do not have income will wait on government drought relief programmes.
Overall both groups will face food insecurity as those who have income will not be able to buy at the level they want due to the country’s high unemployment, while those on government relief will not be eating at their usual level.
According to the report, it is not only mahangu that the country did not produce enough, but even sorghum.
Sorghum is used to produce a staple brew for northern communities called oshikundu, which is also nutritional for babies. Sorghum is also is used to make the traditional brew tombo.
The assessment has revealed that the country has only produced 2.2 metric tonnes of sorghum, the worst level in four years and below the 10-year average production of 3.8MT.
Sorghum production recorded a 2,200MT, a significant reduction of 64% below last season’s production of 6,100MT and also 41% lower than the 10-year average production of 3,800MT.
This decrease in production is highly attributed to the drought conditions and the prolonged dry spells experienced during the 2022/2023 season, according to the Ministry.
Furthermore, the country’s communal producers’ production of maize (6.8MT) has also dwindled compared to the past three years’ production level, all have recorded above 8MT production level.
Maize production in the communal area of Zambezi, Kavango East, and Kavango West regions recorded 6,800MT which is 15% below last season’s production of 8,000MT.
Overall, the country has produced 98,800MT of maize for the season under consideration.
From the country’s total maize production, 45,649MT (46%) came from rain-fed production, while 53,175MT (54%) is from irrigated production.
The aggregate cereal estimates showed that the country has recorded 153,000MT, which is 9% lower than the last season’s harvest of 168,200MT.
Much of the cereal production came from the commercial area, including the Green Schemes with a contribution of 80% while the communal area only contributed 20% to the national cereal production for the 2022/2023 season. Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
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