Hertta-Maria Amutenja
The Omusati Regional Governor, Erginus Endjala, has expressed his gratitude for the food assistance from the government, after his plea that the people of the region have become vulnerable because of the drought.
Endjala made these remarks after the recently completed a two-week-long training workshop on Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC / IFSPC)) in Swakopmund.
“The rainfall in Omusati was not favourable and it affected all humans and animals. As a result, people are in dire need of food and animals in need of fodders for animals. When we try to intervene, we need to consider both animals and humans,” he said.
Furthermore, he added that the number of people and animals affected by the drought this year has increased compared to the previous years.
At the commencement of the 2022/2023 rainy season meteorologists predicted normal to above-normal rainfall throughout the farming season for the SADC region.
However, the country was hit by a dry spell between February and April. This severely affected crops and livestock.
Earlier this year the governor said he worried about the persistent drought in the region due to low rainfall and crop plants dying as a result. He says the situation will require assistance from the Disaster Management in the Office of the Prime Minister.
During the training participants were introduced to sets of analytical tools and processes, aimed to equip them, to objectively analyse and classify the severity of food security situations according to scientific international standards.
Speaking at the closing ceremony I-Ben Natangwe Nashandi, Executive Director at the Office of The Prime Minister said the VAA is a very vital tool that is used to analyse and determine the extent of vulnerabilities in communities.
“As you are aware, this year the country is facing a serious imminent drought due to poor rainfall that has been received across the country. The government is therefore eagerly looking forward to the outcomes of this assessment, rather sooner than normal. This VAA is a bridge to intervention. We must therefore accelerate the exercise, without compromising the credibility of the outcome, to ensure a speedy conclusion and production of a 2023 VAA report in a record timeframe,” said Nashandi.
He added that the government, with the coordination of the Office of the Prime Minister, will be deploying enumerators across the country from 19 June to 7 July 2023 to collect data on different indicators.
“The nation is therefore urged to give the necessary support to the officials by providing them with necessary information. The gathered data, collected using provided technological tools, will lead to a VAA outcome, which must correspond to realities on the ground, and provide an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) for each area. This classification will determine the type of intervention needed to address such vulnerabilities, and will assist the government to implement necessary programmes toward development and resilience building towards various shocks that our county is challenged with,” he added.
Furthermore, he said the Office of the Prime Minister will provide food assistance to drought-stricken households in the //Kharas, Hardap and Omaheke regions between 1 July 2023 to 31 March 2024.
