Windhoek
While the drought is reaching its peak, bush encroachment is rubbing more salt in the wounds of producers, as this man-made phenomena now affects an estimated 26-30 million hectares of Namibian farmland and projected figures show it could soon shoot up to 45 million hectares.
This impacts severely on agricultural productivity through a reduction in carrying capacity and a loss of biodiversity, among other factors.
Bush encroachment was one of the items listed by Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU) president Ryno van der Merwe as one of the major challenges facing the agricultural sector during the NAU executive council meeting last week.
Soils particularly of what was formerly known as Ovamboland had always been prone to duststorms in the past, but since the drought of 2013 they became far more vulnerable.
Farmers had removed millions of acres of the natural grass sod to plant crops over several decades and the soils were left exposed to the strong winds that annually sweep across the region.
Millions of tonnes of blinding dust have swept across the plains, turning plowed fields into sand dunes. The social and economic impacts on farming communities are particularly severe, given the fact that all communal farmers are directly dependent on crop and livestock farming for their livelihood.
One of the first effects of the consecutive dry spells and drought was the prevention of winter crops from achieving sufficient growth.
This resulted in dismal crop harvests countrywide and left some 600 000 Namibians in deperate need of food aid.
The other challenge, according to Van der Merwe, is the devastating effects of livestock and especially weaner prices after the border was technically closed for the export of livestock to South Africa on July 1, as well as the increasing rate of stocktheft and poaching.
“These elements could easily lead to despondency amongst NAU members,” he noted.
Since the implementation of South Africa’s new livestock import regulations on July 1 cattle exports from Namibia to that country have virtually come to a halt. The latest statistics indicate a sharp drop in cattle prices and a dramatic decline in livestock numbers at auctions countrywide.
According to the latest figures released by the Livestock Auctioneers, Brokers, and Traders Association (LABTA), only 12 664 cattle were sold on auction in Namibia in July.
This is in stark contrast to the average number of 25 400 cattle that were sold on auction during the first six months of this year. The number of weaners, young oxen and heifers, which are normally exported to South Africa, also dropped drastically at auctions in July.
The number of weaners that were sold – the livelihood of all communal farmers – dropped from an average of 1 491 to only 498 in July, while the number of young oxen sold dropped from 9 217 on average to 4 812 in July.
Read the full report in tomorrow’s edition of Farmers Forum.