It is projected that from October 2023 to March 2024, the number of people expected to experience food insecurity in Namibia will increase to 695 000, or 26 per cent of the population.
This number will increase from the approximately 579 000 people estimated to be facing high levels of acute food insecurity and requiring urgent humanitarian from July to September 2023, the Executive Director in the Office of the Prime Minister, I-Ben Nashandi, said on Wednesday.
He was speaking during the launch of the Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis Report 2023, and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Acute Food Insecurity Communication Report in Windhoek.
In his statement availed to Nampa, Nashandi said during the current period most households do not have any food stocks, most having indicated stocks lasting less than one month and those who had stocks lasting between one to three months, have already depleted their food stock.
“As a result, households have already experienced difficulties in purchasing food due to lack of income and high unemployment rates,” Nashandi said.
With regards to rainfall, the executive director said the country experienced below normal and sporadic rainfall which culminated in a combination of flash floods and dry spells in 2022/2023.
“This has subjected communities to prospects of lower crop yields, impacts on livestock, and ultimately reduced household food stocks compromising food security at household levels,” he stated.
Nashandi also touched on grazing and livestock, saying grazing conditions are generally poor in most regions across the country and this has an effect on the livestock body conditions.
He explained that the Office of the Prime Minister, through the Directorate Disaster Risk Management, conducts annual livelihood Vulnerability Assessments and Analyses (VAA). The assessments collects and analyses livelihood and food security data to inform policy and further aid the understanding of threats of natural and socio-economic disasters to food and nutrition security.
The 2023/24 VAA was conducted between May and July of 2023 and covered both urban and rural areas in all 14 regions.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency