NAMIBIA: POVERTY/NBC/30/5/18 SABANews 1

RUNDU – The levels of poverty and youth unemployment in the Northern NAMIBIA region of KAVANGO EAST have become a huge concern for Governor SAMUEL MBAMBO.
He says the province should be able to produce more food and create jobs from agriculture, because it has fertile lands and plenty of water resources.
However, Governor MBAMBO says he has hope the various social actions the State, regional councils, and other development partners are carrying out can help to turn the situation around.
He says KAVANGO EAST Region has, in the meantime, initiated what has been dubbed OPERATION WERENGENDJE to improve food security at household levels.
Up 600 subsistence farmers get access to ploughing and weeding services through the scheme.
The Operation produced some 338-THOUSAND tonnes of mahangu grains from ONE-THOUSAND-700 hectares ploughed.
NBC News says involved farmers pocketed up to ONE-MILLION-700-THOUSAND NAMIBIA dollars from the surplus yields.
The national broadcaster also says the producers have donated 100 bags of mahangu flour to needy families through the office of Governor MBAMBO.
The national Agronomic Board says mahangu is a subsistence rain-fed cereal crop that is the major staple food for more than 50 percent of the NAMIBIAN population.
The pearl millet is produced in ZAMBEZI, KAVANGO EAST, KAVANGO WEST, OHANGWENA, OMUSATI, OSHANA, OSHIKOTO provinces, and in the TSUMKWE area of OTJOZONDJUPA Region.
Authorities say the crop is highly suitable for low rainfall and the prevailing soil conditions in the north-central regions and the KAVANGO.
Mahangu farmers in NAMIBIA are among the few AFRICAN peoples who have successfully developed a food storage system to store their grain in baskets made of wood strips for up to FIVE years.
Nevertheless, other media reports say inequality and unemployment remain the biggest challenges for the SADC country, with as much as 37 percent of eligible workers going without jobs as of 2017.
KAVANGO EAST has thus joined other NAMIBIAN regions like KUNENE and ZAMBEZI, which in the same year recorded 62-POINT-EIGHT percent and 58-POINT-THREE percent unemployment respectively./Sabanews/cam