Namibian farmers have stopped ploughing due to lack of rains. |
They say they are
tired of the wait-and-see game as since the start of the year it has not
rained - as a result the land is dry and they are left hopeless and in
desperation.
A virtually dry
November and rainless first half of December did not help the situation.
Although there was a glimmer of hope when it started raining in
mid-December, which encouraged farmers to start tilling their land, this
was however short-lived.
Speaking to New
Era, one of the leading farmers in Zambezi Region, Alfred Tendekule from
Samudono, says he has suspended all ploughing due to the absence of
rains as he, like most subsistence farmers, relies on rain-fed
agriculture, which depends on seasonal rains.
"As I am speaking
to you I am in the bush, but I have sent the workers home as we have
ceased ploughing as the land is very dry because it is not raining. I am
just here looking after the cattle," said Tendekule.
He added that at
the same time last year there was hope because it was raining, but now
he has lost hope of it raining, which is why he has stopped ploughing.
"On the 8th of
January last year when I measured the amount of rain in my field it was
28mm, but today (yesterday) when I measured it was zero," lamented the
subsistence farmer.
"I was standing in
the field I planted, on the 5th, but there is no hope that it will
germinate, because the soil is dry," he said.
Asked why he would
give up if it has only been three days, he said: "If the fields I
planted on the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd of January have not geminated
what will make this one germinate?"
Tendekule also
stated that most farmers in the area have stopped planting and have just
stored their seeds, as they are fearful they will just be wasted if
they are planted. He also stated that seeds they planted in December
have also scarcely geminated.
"The way things
are, I can say there will be no harvest this year. Maybe for those who
are able to irrigate their fields - as for us who depend on the rain
there is no hope," he said.
Another farmer
Chika Kolokwe, from Muyako in Katima Rural Constituency, shared the same
sentiments. He says he planted up to three hectares but his maize has
also not geminated because it has not rained.
"I planted my maize
on the 2nd of December, but up until now it has not geminated - we have
run out of ideas, hunger is going to kill us, I don't know how the
government is going to help us."
However, Ignatius Simbuwa from Maunga is one of the lucky farmers whose maize has geminated.
He says he planted his seeds three weeks back and luckily it rained at that time.
"My maize has
geminated and it is at an early stage - hopefully if it will rain in the
next two weeks, it might survive," he said.
He also
acknowledged that in areas where it did not rain farmers have indeed
been left hopeless - he however has not stopped planting neither, has he
given up. "I am still sowing because I am hopeful that it might rain,"
he said.
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