Severe drought pushes cereal imports up

Namibia is set to import more than 340 000t of cereals during the 2024/25 marketing season.

This is due to the drop in local production caused by severe drought this year.

The bulk of these imports are white maize for human consumption and yellow maize for stock feed.

This was said by Johannes Shoopala, the acting chief veterinary officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, at the Bank Windhoek Agriculture Series 2024 in Windhoek on Thursday.

He said although the country has always been a net importer of cereals, accounting for two thirds of its cereal consumption requirements, the impact of the El Nino-induced drought on crop production has led to the need for increased imports.

This makes the country more vulnerable to external market fluctuations and high food prices.

According to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade, Namibia imported cereals worth US$120.4 million (about N$2.2 billion) during 2023.

“The price of maize imports in the first five months of the 2024/25 marketing year was double the value of the previous year, reflecting the country’s increased use of imports,” he said.

Shoopala said agriculture is vital to Namibia’s economy as it contributes about 7% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and also employs about 30% of the country’s workforce.

He said the agriculture sector has long provided incomes, sustenance and security to Namibians, but the country remains highly reliant on imports, with about 60% of the food consumed sourced from imports.

“This reliance on imports poses remarkable risks, especially when drought drives down local food production as global price fluctuations directly impact the cost of essential food items, pushing many Namibians to the edge of food insecurity,” he said.

Shoopala said the intensification of drought, driven largely by climate change, had resulted in crop failures with maize production dropping by 30% and reduced livestock numbers.

“Losses incurred in agriculture productivity due to drought amounts to millions of dollars per year, where livestock mortality rates have also risen, erasing the investment of farmers,” he said.

Shoopala said in response, the government had implemented various interventions, including a national drought policy to address challenges of water scarcity and food, as well as subsidised livestock feed.

Looking at dry land opportunities for Namibia, Herman Fouche, a retired specialist scientist at the Agriculture Research Council of South Africa, said Namibia needs to adopt climate-smart crops in the face of climate change.

“We are in a warming phase and one of the solutions is to use climate-smart crops that are drought resistant, adaptable to a wide variety of soils and have multiple uses,” he said.

Fouche said such a crop is the cactus, which can be grown by large- as well as small-scale producers and can provide fodder. It is therefore financially viable.

Speaking virtually from the University of Namibia’s Ogongo campus where she is a lecturer, Bertha Mudamburi advised emerging farmers to adopt low technologies to mitigate the drought.

“They must harvest water during the rainy season to water their livestock or crops during the dry season,” she said, adding that farmers can also mulch fields, make potholes for planting and use drip irrigation.

Executive officer of business banking at Bank Windhoek Leon Koch said the series was the bank’s response to the Bank of Namibia’s recent call for financial institutions to assist farmers.

– email: matthew@namibian.com.na