People in drought areas last received food aid in May.

The Emergency Management Unit (EMU) met on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of the recently-approved national drought relief plan.

A total of 36 000 tonnes of maize meal, dry fish and cooking oil must still be procured by tender before the programme can begin.

EMU Deputy Director, Gabriel Kangowa, told The Namibian that the tender process will hopefully start next week.

A donor conference is also in the pipeline to help Government acquire about N$231 million to implement the 2003-2004 plan, for which N$274 million is needed.

He said his unit's target date for food to arrive in the regions was the second week of October.

"It's just a matter of working very fast," Kangowa said.

In the interim the Agriculture Ministry in the Karas Region this week started implementing the drought plan's market incentive scheme backdated to August, for farmers willing to sell their drought affected livestock.

Farmers will receive a N$50 subsidy for every animal they sell.

Desmond Cloete, Chief Agricultural Extension Technician for the Karas Region, where 5 000 animals have died this year because of the drought, said: "The situation has gone from bad to worse".

Animals, Cloete says, are generally in a poor condition, and are fetching very little on the auctions.

According to sources, prices are as low as N$80 for a goat or a sheep which, if in a better condition, usually fetch in excess of N$200.

He said there is virtually no grazing and that the whole region is drought-stricken.

"We are advising the farmers to sell off, rather than get nothing and have the animals die," Cloete said.

But Ulrich Davids of the Namibia Development Trust, which works with rural communities on income-generating projects, said while people are under pressure to sell their animals, it is their only livelihood.

People fear that they will not have money to acquire animals again once the situation improves, he added.

"People are without hope and demoralised.

They don't want to move.

They feel they must be closer to their livestock," Davids said.

The Southern Namibia Farmers' Union (Snafu) remains adamant that the provision of fodder will ease the plight of many farmers.

This is despite Government saying it would not offer such assistance as has happened in the past because the system has been open to abuse.

"We appreciate what Government is doing, but it doesn't help to remove animals, then when the rains come there will be no animals," said Snafu's Karas Regional Chairperson, August Bloodstaan.

The organisation says Government should consider looking into long-term drought-mitigating strategies, such as the rehabilitation of earth dams and the drilling of boreholes.

Government has also offered to transport animals to grazing areas within a 100-km radius.

But Snafu says this will not be of much help as the land is barren and animals will have to be transported a much greater distance in search of adequate grazing.

It is not only the farming sector that is suffering, but also subsistence farmers.

According to the region's Rural Development Planner, Absalom Naseb, about 5 727 people are registered to receive food aid in Karas under this year's programme.

Naseb said it's possible that the number of beneficiaries could grow over the coming weeks.

Karas Councillor Frans Basson said the break in aid has just been too long for many.

He said even if rains begin to fall after a drought period, it takes time for the land to recover and during this time, people are without food.

Farmworkers are also finding themselves without work and are flocking to town centres, exacerbating the need for food in urban areas.

EMU's Kangowa says all the programmes under this year's drought plan are important and that Government will just have to work hard to find the funds to implement them all.

Indications are that a submission for assistance will be made to the National Assembly when the Additional Budget is tabled next month.

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