By Hileni Nembwaya

COMMUNAL farmers in the northern regions fear that the current dry weather conditions could turn into a drought.

Unexpected dry spells during seasons when rain is usually plenty hurt the fortunes of farmers in the northern regions, who depend on crop farming for survival and income generation.

Many crop farmers who ploughed their fields in early December and planted mahangu and maize seeds, told The Namibian their seeds never germinated because they never received any rain. Those whose seeds did germinate, have seen their crops dry up due to no rainfall.

Matheus Amakali, a crop farmer based at Onankali village in the Oshikoto region says the prolonged dry spell could reduce his mahangu harvest, however he remains ever hopeful for good rains.

“The sky does not look promising at all, everything is dry. Our crops that we sowed in December have not yet germinated and the soil is dry, there is no moisture. Usually, by this time we would be busy ploughing our fields.”

The water catchment areas, oshanas and wells have also dried up in most areas, resulting in farmers drilling boreholes to provide their animals with water.

Another communal farmer, Hilia Kwedhi says the dry spells could negatively affect livestock, due to water catchment areas drying up.

“If it does not rain any time soon, our animals might die of thirst. The water wells in our area have all dried up and now our animals have nowhere to drink from. The situation might look normal to other people, but to us farmers it looks dire and threatening because this is our daily bread.

We survive on farming crops and animals for a living.”

A senior hydrologist based in the north, John Hango, has advised farmers to remain patient and brace themselves for expected rains over the coming weeks.

According to the Climate Prediction Centre Africa Hazards Outlook, southern Africa experienced an uneven distribution in rainfall over recent weeks.

While moderate to heavy rains persisted in the northwest over northwestern Angola, and to the south over South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, reduced rains continued throughout the central and eastern parts of the sub-region, from southern Angola to northern Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.

During this past week, rains fell over Zambia, parts of Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. However, weekly totals remained below average. As a result, cumulative rain since October remained below average across a wide portion of central and eastern southern Africa.

Seasonal deficits were large and now range between 100 and 200mm over areas of southern Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.

The most recent vegetation indicates that deteriorated conditions were evident over areas of northern Namibia, southern and eastern Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, as well as central and southern Madagascar.

Recently, above-average temperatures were also observed over eastern southern Africa, further exacerbating dry conditions.

During the outlook period, abundant rains are forecast over northern Angola, eastern South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, central and western Madagascar. In contrast, limited and likely below-average rain is expected across eastern Zambia and Malawi.