Zambezi farmer holds on to hope for rain

Well-known Zambezi resident and retired police commissioner Bolen Sankwasa says he is hopeful for more rain in the Zambezi region over the coming weeks.

This will enable communal farmers like him to cultivate their land, he says.

Zambezi and other parts of Namibia are drought stricken – a situation that forced president Nangolo Mbumba to declare a national state of emergency in May this year.

Sankwasa (74) ventured into a variety of farming activities since leaving public office in 2011.

Speaking to Nampa at his home village of Lusu in the Sibbinda constituency recently, Sankwasa said he has only managed to plough three hectares of his 13-ha millet field with an oxen-pulled plough.

He said he needs more rain to enable his seeds to germinate, which will in turn extend his ploughing season.

“I don’t know whether the seeds I have planted will germinate or not, but I am still [optimistic] that God will bring rain. When I was tilling this land, there was no single drop of rain, but I want to encourage other farmers not to [lose hope],” he said.

On a subsistence level, Sankwasa is also involved in poultry, livestock and crop farming.

He has over 70 heads of cattle and is hopeful that the light rain received recently will provide some relief for his livestock.

According to Sankwasa, Lusu and other villages in the Sibbinda constituency are privileged to have been connected to the national NamWater pipeline from Katima Mulilo.

However, he emphasised that the tariffs are too high to meet communal farmers’ water needs for their livestock.

Deprived of rain this year, Sankwasa fears the worst, having only managed to harvest a paltry 98 bags of millet during the previous season.

Official statistics from the Namibia Meteorological Service show that the Zambezi region’s average rainfall has increasingly fallen short of the expected 600mm or more per year – a scenario attributed to climate change. – Nampa