Drought period officially over

THE six-month drought food relief programme officially ended last week but officials say the Regional Emergency Management Units will continue to deliver supplies to registered beneficiaries over the next few weeks.

“Although the drought period that was declared has come to an end, what we have will still be delivered,” the acting Deputy Director of the Emergency Management Unit, Francis Kooper, said on Friday. He told The Namibian that many warehouses still contained reasonable amounts of stock, while there had also been delays on the part of suppliers in the delivery of goods.In some regions insufficient storage facilities had also proved problematic over the past few months and supplies were still being delivered to these areas.Kooper said a donation of rice from India still had to be delivered to the intended beneficiaries.In the Caprivi Region, much of the focus in recent weeks has been on feeding flood-affected victims, and Kooper said officials there now had to catch up in distributing to other areas too.This year’s drought food programme was underwritten to the tune of N$170 million and catered for more than 640 000 people nationwide.During each round of distribution each household was entitled to receive three 12,5kg bags of maize meal, four bottles of cooking oil and 12 pieces of dried fish.With many regions still not having received adequate rains during the past season, Kooper said Cabinet would have to take a decision, based on the final report, on whether or not to extend to the programme in some areas.The EMU, he said, was now awaiting regional assessment reports on the distribution progress to date and the situation in their respective regions before a final document on the national perspective is submitted to Cabinet.The World Food Programme’s Head in Namibia Abdirahman Meygag said on Friday that it still planned to feed more than 100 000 vulnerable children despite hiccups in obtaining donor support.The details for getting the programme off the ground were still being finalised, he said.The programme was meant to start in March.Cabinet Under Secretary Gerson Tjihenuna said the agricultural programmes of the drought relief scheme would also continue despite the drought relief period having come to an end on May 31.”There is still a lot of winding up to do,” he said.With Government having received little response to its international appeal for assistance to fund the entire programme valued at N$275 million, Tjihenuna said the State had nonetheless managed to pay its suppliers from its own sources.He said Cabinet would await the final document to assess the financial status of the programme.Last year, Government approved N$35 million from the emergency contingency fund and another N$53 million through the revised budget for the drought scheme.A decision is yet to be taken on this year’s allocation for disaster relief efforts which usually comes from the Contingency Fund controlled by the Finance Ministry.He told The Namibian that many warehouses still contained reasonable amounts of stock, while there had also been delays on the part of suppliers in the delivery of goods.In some regions insufficient storage facilities had also proved problematic over the past few months and supplies were still being delivered to these areas.Kooper said a donation of rice from India still had to be delivered to the intended beneficiaries.In the Caprivi Region, much of the focus in recent weeks has been on feeding flood-affected victims, and Kooper said officials there now had to catch up in distributing to other areas too.This year’s drought food programme was underwritten to the tune of N$170 million and catered for more than 640 000 people nationwide.During each round of distribution each household was entitled to receive three 12,5kg bags of maize meal, four bottles of cooking oil and 12 pieces of dried fish.With many regions still not having received adequate rains during the past season, Kooper said Cabinet would have to take a decision, based on the final report, on whether or not to extend to the programme in some areas.The EMU, he said, was now awaiting regional assessment reports on the distribution progress to date and the situation in their respective regions before a final document on the national perspective is submitted to Cabinet.The World Food Programme’s Head in Namibia Abdirahman Meygag said on Friday that it still planned to feed more than 100 000 vulnerable children despite hiccups in obtaining donor support.The details for getting the programme off the ground were still being finalised, he said.The programme was meant to start in March.Cabinet Under Secretary Gerson Tjihenuna said the agricultural programmes of the drought relief scheme would also continue despite the drought relief period having come to an end on May 31.”There is still a lot of winding up to do,” he said.With Government having received little response to its international appeal for assistance to fund the entire programme valued at N$275 million, Tjihenuna said the State had nonetheless managed to pay its suppliers from its own sources.He said Cabinet would await the final document to assess the financial status of the programme.Last year, Government approved N$35 million from the emergency contingency fund and another N$53 million through the revised budget for the drought scheme.A decision is yet to be taken on this year’s allocation for disaster relief efforts which usually comes from the Contingency Fund controlled by the Finance Ministry.