Caprivi waits for food

By: ABSALOM SHIGWEDHA

GOVERNMENT has yet to respond to an appeal by the Governor of the Caprivi Region to give food aid as many people’s crops were destroyed by devastating floods this year.

“That appeal is still outstanding,” Governor Leonard Mwilima told The Namibian this week.

Mwilima took the plea to the Office of the Prime Minister last month.

The Caprivi region has a population of over 85 000 people and Mwilima said the whole region will need food aid. 

However, he said they recently got some food for the region, but this is only for people who were relocated due to the floods, and have now gone back to their homes.

“We will feed them up to November,” he said, adding that these people are mainly from the Kabbe and Katima Rural constituencies and are about 15 000 people.

The latest report of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Namibia Early Warning and Food and Information Unit says below average harvests are expected in the Caprivi and Kavango this year.

While the Kalimbeza Rice Project in the Caprivi Region was a good initiative towards bringing food security to the region, it was also affected by floods and only about  6 hectares were harvested while over 20 hectares were planted.

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