A veld fire allegedly caused by a cattle herder in the Oponona farming area in the Uuvudhiya constituency of the Oshana region two weeks ago destroyed 3 560 hectares of grazing land.
Akwilinus Hinanane, who works for the Ministry of Environment and Tourism at the Eengombe growth point, yesterday said the fire started on 14 July.
Hinanane said once the ministry was made aware of it, he and two other officials from the ministry went to nearby villages to recruit locals to help fight the fire.
“The fire started on the 14th of July at around 14h00 and burned a huge grassland of 3 560 hectares,” Hinanane said.
He said when they arrived at the scene, they used water and back blowers to extinguish the fire.
He said although they managed to put out the fire, it broke out again due to a few hot spots.
The fire continued burning the grazing land until the following day, when it was finally extinguished at about 19h00, Hinanane said.
He said more locals and the Namibian Defence Force joined the ministry in putting out the fire.
“Some headman and local farm owners provided tractors to create cutlines to stop the fire from spreading,” he said.
He added that the fire caused extensive damage to the environment.
“This is also an economic loss which has threatened agricultural livelihoods and biodiversity.”
He said livestock have lost vital forage, forcing farmers to shift their cattle posts and buy expensive emergency animal feed.
Hinanane added that this could force farmers to sell their livestock prematurely at low market prices.
He said veld fires also cause soil degradation because high heat destroys organic matter, leaving soil vulnerable to wind and rain erosion.
It is alleged that the fire was caused by a 14-year-old Angolan cattle herder in the area.
Hinanane said the cattle herder claimed to have seen a snake hiding in the rat holes at the farm.
He then decided to put some grass into these holes and set them alight, but due to windy conditions, this caused the fire to spread.
