Namibia's farmers urged to make the best of the rains

FARMERS in northern Namibia, the country's bread basket, have been urged to work hard to make the most of the good rains received in the area recently.

This was said by Ohangwena governor Usko Nghaamwa who said that because of the drought experienced in the country over the past few years, farmers had poor harvests and lost large numbers of livestock. This resulted in massive food insecurity which drove many households to depend on government drought relief food.

In a recent interview with Nampa, Nghaamwa said with the rains received in most parts of the country, farmers should now work hard to ensure they get good harvests.

"We should work hard in order to record better harvests of crops like mahangu to store for future use. You never know what will follow after the rainy season," cautioned the governor, who also farms.

He said people in the Ohangwena region have already started ploughing adding that the youth are spearheading most of the farming related work following the recent showers.

The head of climate and data bank at the Meteorological Service, Simon Dirkse told Nampa there has been an improvement in the rainfall figures since last year and good rains are expected for the rest of this year.

Also speaking to this news agency was Alfeus Shiweda, who farms in the Ohangwena region's Okongo district. He said he was happy with the rains received in the region, and that if it continued this way, less animals will die of starvation compared to last year.

"The memories of drought endured over the past years are real testimony to farmers that without rain, there is no life.

It is our hope that it rains throughout for our crops and livestock to survive this time around," Shiweda said.

Namibia's rainy season starts in November and ends in April.