Jana Marais
The human face of Namibia's drought
KARIAMUKUJU Kautu, 55, and her family in the Kunene province of northwest Namibia have been eating a single meal of watery porridge a day as they try to preserve this year’s meagre harvest.
In the grip of the worst drought in 30 years, an estimated 780 000 people, more than a third of the population, are now severely or moderately food insecure. In Kunene, people are struggling for the second year running with severe drought conditions.
“We are hungry. That is the impact of the drought. That is what we can see. People are hungry. People are dying,” said Kautu, who lives in the village of Otutati. “Once the maize runs out, there is nothing we can do.”
The government, which has declared a national emergency, has budgeted R207-million so far to assist farmers and households. It has distributed 52 000 tons of unfortified maize meal to registered households affected by the drought.
The drought has highlighted the climate change and socioeconomic challenges Namibia faces. Despite being classified as an upper-middle-income country, it is struggling with high unemployment, poverty and inequality. About 29% of children under the age of five suffer stunted growth because of malnutrition, and a very small proportion of children are eligible for welfare grants.
Free primary schooling was introduced only this year, and fewer than half of Namibia’s children attend school beyond Grade 10. The old-age pension of R500 a month does not buy much more than 50kg of maize meal, 5kg of sugar, and beans and cooking oil. Kilimanjaro, a shantytown on the outskirts of Windhoek, is growing as increasing numbers of people move to the city in search of work to send money to families in the rural areas.
Although Namibia’s agricultural sector contributes only 8% to gross domestic product (GDP), about two-thirds of its population of 2.26 million de- pend on agriculture for a living, according to statistics from NKC Independent Economists. Communal farmers, located mainly in the northern provinces, contribute roughly 30% to total output. Mining — mainly copper, diamonds and uranium — dominate the economy.
The government’s expanded drought-response strategy is in the final stages of approval and it is estimated that significantly more money will be needed to assist the rising number of affected people.
The Namibian economy is extractive. When the diamonds, uranium and copper are gone, we’ll just have holes in the ground. What will happen?
In addition to the government’s efforts, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) has issued an appeal for $7.4-million (about R74-million) to help the estimated 109 000 children at risk of malnutrition. The Red Cross has asked for $1.5-million to assist 11 000 households in the four northern regions.
This year, maize production by communal farmers declined 15.2% and commercial output dropped 53.3%. Production of mahangu (pearl millet), a staple food in the north, is down 41% compared with 2012, according to government data.
Given the size of the country, its low population density and the nomadic nature of some of its tribes, it has been a challenge to reach all affected villages. By the end of July, none of the registered households visited by the Sunday Times had received assistance and all available food aid had been distributed.
The government opted to buy maize meal from local millers, who do not have the capacity to fortify the product, raising concerns over its nutritional value. It is considering importing multi-nutrient powder and buying meat and fish locally to supplement the maize meal.
Should the rains come this year, food aid will be needed until at least March 2014, when the first harvests are expected. Its classification as an uppermiddle-income country meant that attracting donor funding to Namibia was not always easy, said Micaela Marques de Sousa, the Unicef representative in Windhoek.
With the lack of grazing available for livestock, the government is offering incentives to people to sell their animals, with R300 on offer per head of cattle and R70 for sheep and goats. However, for many people in the north, the cultural value of cattle outweighs the commercial value, and it has been hard to encourage them to slaughter their animals.
Kapara Mbinge, 35, a Himba cattle farmer in Kunene, has taken his 65 cattle about 140km from his village to find grazing. “We’ve left the wives at home. I’ve already lost six cattle because of the drought and had to sell two to get some money for food. But I don’t like to sell,” he said.
Cattle from the communal land in the northern provinces like Kunene — a foot-and-mouth disease area, which means cattle cannot be exported to lucrative markets in Europe — traditionally earn lower prices than animals from the commercially farmed south.
The meat industry, already struggling because of tough economic conditions in the EU, its main export market, has been hit hard by the drought. Meatco, Namibia’s biggest meat-processing company, has been forced to retrench seasonal workers and shut down some slaughter facilities because it cannot buy enough cattle.
Last week, in an attempt to help farmers get better prices for their livestock, the government changed the nearly decade-old limit on live sheep exports to South Africa. Farmers were required to sell six sheep to Namibian abattoirs for every one sheep exported. This has been changed to a one-toone export ratio until November.
The drought will also have longer-term implications for the industry as farmers opt to sell weaners and breeding stock in South Africa and Angola. In the first six months of the year, 132 421 head of cattle were ex- ported from Namibia, up from 48 021 in the same period of 2012, according to Meatco statistics. Restocking will take three to five years and the government will have to offer assistance to farmers, said Ebben Kalondo, a senior manager at Meatco.
Namibia, the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, is feeling the effects of climate change, with droughts and flooding threatening the traditional way of life of many of its tribes.
“What is the future of subsistence farming in Namibia, something on which many people survive? Will the Himba people be able to continue to have herds of cattle under the current climatic conditions?” asked Nahas Angula, a former prime minister who is an advocate for improved nutrition.
There was a need to improve the seeds, soil fertility, farming methods and weed control used by small-scale farmers, he said.
“The Namibian economy is an extractive economy. When the diamonds, uranium and copper are gone, we’ll just have holes in the ground. What will happen? I don’t have the answers myself, but we should ask these questions,” said Angula.
For Tueemuine Mbendura, an elderly Himba woman who lives near Opowu in Kunene, her traditional way of life is already changing.
“I don’t know when the rains will come. I remember there was a big drought when I was young, but nothing like this. It’s now been two years — I have never seen that before,” she said.
“In the olden days, the old men would go and build a fire and consult with the ancestors about rain. The young ones don’t do that any more.”