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Agricultural harvest sufficient to sustain communal communities until next year’s harvest in May

Agricultural harvest sufficient to sustain communal communities until next year’s harvest in May

The country recorded a significant improvement in agricultural production, despite the poor rainfall performance across most parts of the country, a report has stated.

The Crop Prospects and Food Security Situation Report July 2018, released last week by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, follows a post-harvest assessment mission conducted in the seven major communal crop-producing regions from 7 May to 4 June by the Namibia Early Warning and Food Information Unit.

According to the report the revised crop estimates indicate a substantial improvement in the crop harvest which is significantly higher than last season’s harvest and above average.

“Aggregate cereal estimates showed that, the country is expecting an increase of at least 11% of last season’s harvest and about 26% above the average production,” the report said.

The report noted that all major crop-producing regions showed above average production, except the Zambezi region, which showed a slight reduction about 1% below the average productions.

Meanwhile, household food security was reported to have remained satisfactory in most regions, following a good agricultural production received and households said the harvest is sufficient to sustain them to the next harvest in May 2019, the report added.

However, few pockets of food insecurity were still being reported, especially in areas that suffered the effects of poor rainfall, excessive rainfall and damages due to Fall Army worms last season, the report said.

According to the report, grazing conditions were reported to range between fair and good in most parts of the country, following good rainfall received in the last three months, however, distress grazing conditions are still being reported in the south and partly central to eastern part of the country owing to poor rainfall received in the just ended rainfall season.

The Agriculture Ministry said the main purpose of the assessment was to assess and quantify the 2018 crop harvest in the major crop-growing regions of Namibia and provide early warning report on geographic locations of agronomic anomalies, the effects of floods, droughts, and other significant events.


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