Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare has announced the official end of Namibia’s 2024/2025 drought relief programme, following improved rainfall and better grazing conditions.
Ngurare told the National Assembly that the N$1.3 billion emergency programme, launched under a State of Emergency in May 2024, has been concluded after reaching 384,954 households, an estimated 1.4 million people,across all 14 regions.
“In view of the above-normal rainfall received across the country, it is evident that this year’s harvest was favourable and able to sustain households to the next harvesting season,” he said.
“The grazing conditions have also significantly improved and are able to sustain the livestock to the next harvesting season.”
The programme provided monthly food baskets containing maize meal or mahangu, tins of fish or meat alternatives, beans or soya mince, and cooking oil.
As part of efforts to increase protein supply, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism allocated 86 elephants for culling.
Seventy-one were culled across eight regions, producing 142,000 kilograms of meat. This was distributed in 1.5kg packs. An additional 157,550kg of meat from other wildlife was distributed in the northeast.
Meatco also supplied fresh frozen beef to six regions through its Northern Communal Area operations.
“The fresh frozen meat was distributed on a monthly basis to drought-affected households in the Kavango West, Kavango East, Zambezi, Khomas, Hardap, and //Kharas regions, providing an essential source of protein, complementing other food items,” said Ngurare.
The Prime Minister noted the introduction of a digital system, the Commodity & Beneficiaries Management Information System (CBMIS),to improve food distribution using voucher cards for tracking and transparency.
Despite delays in some regions, Ngurare said Regional Councils have been instructed to complete any remaining food distributions by 31 August 2025.
