Drought in Namibia and Farmers’ (un)preparedness

VENOMUKONA TJISEUADROUGHTS are common in Namibia and it is almost impossible for a season to pass without a part of the country being affected by drought.

Even with these known facts, Namibian farmers are affected by drought every time it hits their areas and this brings one conclusion that farmers are failing to prepare for “what to do if it didn’t rain”.

This phenomenon can somewhat be blamed on farmers, because they remain “too hopeful” at the beginning of every rainy season and do not prepare for the dry season while there is time and resources.

Therefore, agricultural educators and extension officers need to disseminate information on drought coping strategies in summer season and not wait for the drought to hit and start teaching farmers “what they could have done”. By then, it will be too late and it will cause more stress to farmers.

Agricultural drought can be defined as a lack of precipitation or soil moisture for vegetation and crops to grow. But few farmers can attest that sometimes they receive enough rain, yet they get affected by drought, then, in this case, the blame goes to individual’s management of their rangelands and cropping calendars for crop farmers.

In order to prepare for possible drought or the dry season when natural fodder becomes less and for farmers are able to maintain their fodder supplies throughout the year, there are few basic things that need to be done during summer.

The first thing is that farmers should know that the rangeland condition determines how many livestock one can keep and for how long. If you ignore this basic rule, it is obvious that you will pay the price sometime later in the year.

During summer, give your rangeland enough time to recover by taking out animals, especially after the drought. Further, during restoration farmers tend to turn a blind eye to moving water in their farms, not knowing that is a crucial stolen resource that is even causing more rangeland degradation through soil erosion, thus, make sure to slow down, split and sink running water on your farm, don’t let it pass through to your neighbour.

Further, it is important to start fodder banks, or reserve fodder in summer, while there are abundant fodder materials in the road corridors, municipal land and even on your farm. Cut down these grasses, store them and it will save you on fodder costs in the dry season, otherwise you will buy grass that other agri-preneurs baled from the same corridors you had an opportunity to harvest yourself.

Many farmers can attest on how bush feed/boskos saved them in the drought of 2019, therefore, instead of waiting until branches are dry and nutrients are depleted, chop down branches while they are green and nutritious, mill and store them as fodder in your reserves for later use in the winter season.

At the end of the rainy season, which is around April in many parts of Namibia, it is important to do one more assessment of your rangeland and evaluate how much grazing materials you have and how many livestock it can keep throughout the dry season, then, with this information, you should adjust your livestock figures according to the rangeland capability.

During this time, livestock prices are relatively good, and you don’t have much pressure to sell, therefore it is not advisable to wait as at some point you will be forced to sell when your rangeland has become depleted, your livestock condition is poor and commodity prices are low.

Lastly, while what we discussed above are seasonal short-term coping strategies, farmers are encouraged to embark on a transition to become resilient against climate change.

This can be achieved by embracing diversified/integrated agricultural ventures, practising agroecology, climate smart agriculture as well as de-bushing over encroached rangelands to remove invader bushes and open up veld for more perennial grasses to grow back.

*Venomukona Tjiseua is a former agricultural extension technician and currently a business consultant at Agribank. He holds masters in sustainable agriculture. The opinions expressed in this article are his own.