Michael Mutonga Liswaniso
KATIMA MULILO – Well-known Zambezi resident and retired police commissioner, Bolen Sankwasa is hopeful that more rains will fall in the region in the upcoming weeks and enable communal farmers like him to cultivate the land.
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.
The 74-year-old Sankwasa, who has ventured into a variety of farming activities since leaving public office in 2011, shared these sentiments with Nampa at his home village of Lusu in the Sibbinda constituency.
He said although he has managed to plough three hectares of his 13-hectare millet field with an oxen-pulled plough, he is hopeful that more rain will come in the coming weeks so that his seeds can germinate and extend his ploughing season further.
“I don’t know whether the seeds I have planted will germinate or not, but I am still hopeful 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 give up,” he said.
Though on a subsistence level, Sankwasa is also involved in poultry, livestock and crop farming.
He has over 73 head of cattle and is hopeful that the light rains 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, the tariffs are too high for communal farmers to supply water needs for their equally demanding livestock.
Deprived of rain this year, Sankwasa fears the worst, because he only managed to harvest a paltry 98 bags of millet in the previous season in the same 13-hectare millet field.
Official statistics from the Namibia Meteorological Service show that the Zambezi region which can receive an average rainfall pattern of over 600mm per year, has been falling short in the past years – a scenario attributed to climate change.
-Nampa