WINDHOEK – The Disaster Risk Management Directorate in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister received food worth N$500 000 and cash of N$100 000 on Monday as more donations poured in for drought relief
On top of the consignment of 35 tons of maize meal and 15 tons of pasta from Bokomo Food Namibia, and the 15 tons of sugar from Tongat Hullet worth N$500 000, the directorate also received the N$100 000 from AgriBank.
Besides the above donations, Meatco handed over canned beef from the 105 cattle from the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. According to the agriculture ministry it recently tasked Meatco to slaughter and process the meat into cans from 105 cattle of which 30 were from Oshakati and 75 from Windhoek.
“A total of 231 432 cans were produced, a total of 341 cartons of offal and 435 cartons of bones,” said the Chief Executive Officer of Meatco, Vekuii Rukoro, who handed over the tinned beef to the Disaster Risk Management Directorate.
“We are all aware of the consequences of the disaster and this should be a clarion call to establish a fund to permanently build concrete dams to harvest water from floods for us during drought such as the one we are facing now,” remarked Ambassador Leonard Iipumbu the CEO of Agribank.
Iipumbu said drought affects the agriculture sector the most and there is a need for an integrated approach to mitigating the effects of the drought that affects over 900 000 people. He said prudent measures are in place to assist the farmers while ensuring the balance sheet of Agribank is not eroded.
“Any disaster requires commitment of huge resources to mitigate its effects and the government has already diverted resources to ensure that no life is lost during this period of the drought,” said the AgriBank CEO.
Solly Amadhila from Frans Indongo Trust called upon businesses to work hand in hand with government to mitigate the drought.
Receiving the donations, the Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku said he is currently visiting the various regions to ensure drought relief distribution proceeds smoothly.
In a related development the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) on Monday provided EUR 300 000 through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to support the Namibian Red Cross Society to implement a drought relief response.
The main objective of this action, entitled ‘‘Humanitarian assistance to drought affected communities in Namibia’ will be to contribute to the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable, food insecure populations and will mainly include the provision of short-term food security support to 2000 individuals.
The implementation period will run for six months as from Monday in the Kavango, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and Kunene regions.
By Loide Jason