By: Kelvin Chiringa
It never rains for the Namibian agricultural sector but it pours as another fall-army worm disaster strikes right in the shadow of a looming “national drought crisis”.
The sector as a whole has been in decline worsened by persistent droughts putting on the line the jobs of a majority of Namibians.
The line ministry and commercial farmers have held meetings to work out a strategy in order to cushion the farmers from falling hard and a total of N$10 million is in the meantime being raised.
Government is yet to declare a national disaster but farmers have already sounded alarm and are agreed it is now a country-wide catastrophe.
It is also yet to roll out an emergency disaster fund, which, according to minister Alpheus Naruseb, is on the way.
The fall-army worm has hit maize fields in the Zambezi region, the country’s germ for agricultural output.
Agriculture employs a large number of local labour and it contracted by 1.1% in the second quarter 2018 after positive growth of 1.4% in the first quarter.
According to reports from the agriculture ministry, the worm was reported on the 14th of February in areas such as Sacona, Kongola, Ngoma, Bukalo, Kasheshe and Musanga.
“Following these reports, the MAWF undertook an assessment mission in the affected areas on the 18th and 19th of February which confirmed that over 100 ha of farmland are adversely affected by the worms.”
“The crops in these areas are at different growth stages, from vegetative to flowering stage which is highly susceptible to fall-army worms,” the ministry has said.
The prophecy for the agriculture sector was quite unnerving even towards the end of 2018.
PSG Namibia’s Eloise du Plessis said, “We do not expect the agricultural sector to be the economy’s manna from heaven, due to depleted livestock and fish stock numbers and a lower crop harvest compared to last year’s bumper harvest.”
Weak growth in the sector will likely put burden on overall economic growth this year which is estimated by the central bank of Namibia to be weak but positive.
The disaster of the worms is also a dangerous threat to previously disadvantaged farmers whose farms are facing repossession by Agribank for failure to honour their loans.
They have sought the help of the President but the finance ministry and the bank have put pressure on them, which finds them cornered.
If the disaster wreaks havoc over their farms, the possibility of losing them gets firmer.
