National Drought Management Policy and Strategy.

This national emergency and long term drought management Policy and strategy is concerned with developing an efficient, equitable and sustainable approach to drought management. The Policy addresses shortcomings of previous programmes uch as no adequate definition of drought, public intervention without private responsibility, subsidized unsustainable farming practices, poor food distribution programmes during drought.
The Policy aims to shift responsibility for managing drought risk from government to the farmer, with financial assistance and food security interventions only being considered in the event of an extreme or ‘disaster’ drought being declared. The Policy moves away from regular financial assistance to large numbers of private-tenure and communal-tenure farmers to measures that support the on-farm management of risk. The Government’s involvement with drought will move beyond an exclusive focus on emergency drought programmes to a broader, longer term perspective. The eight objectives of the new drought policy are to: i. ensure that household food security is not compromised by drought; ii. encourage and support farmers to adopt self-reliant approaches to drought risk; iii. preserve adequate reproductive capacity in livestock herds in affected areas during drought periods; iv. ensure the continuous supply of potable water to communities, and particularly to their livestock, their schools and their clinics; v. minimise the degradation of the natural resource base during droughts; vi. enable rural inhabitants and the agricultural sector to recover quickly following drought; vii. ensure that the health status of all Namibians is not threatened by the effects of drought; viii. finance drought relief programmes efficiently and effectively by establishing an independent and permanent National Drought Fund.
The Government’s obligations regarding drought relief programmes will in future be funded through the agency of a National Drought Fund. Under this Policy, instead of financing regular large-scale drought relief programmes, the Government will examine ways to support farmers in the reduction of vulnerability to drought in the longer term. Measures are related to promoting drought mitigating technologies and practices (which includes, among other things, creating an enabling policy environment) and to creating an enabling policy environment (which includes, among other things, improvement of agriculture, land user rights, and water pricing).
The Government’s strategy, including a range of programmes and related plans of action, is presented. Programmes are divided into those that support food security, livestock farmers, crop farmers, and water supply services. Because of the different needs and opportunities of the communal-tenure and private-tenure farming sectors, programmes are presented separately for these two groups. Plans of action are designed for, among other things, water supply schemes, food security (including school-feeding programmes), agricultural (input) programmes, on-farm risk minimization, diversifying income sources, improved food and nutrition practices, water supply and demand management. The establishment of land user rights, including the right to inherit land, to be administered by Regional and sub-ordinate local Land Boards, will give land users control over their natural resources and enable the development of strategies to place them in a better position to withstand drought.
The Government’s drought management policies, programmes and plans of action, as described will require the development of significant implementing capacity in three main areas: information systems, institutional arrangements and financial arrangements. Coordinating functions related to drought-recovery programmes and long-term drought mitigation programmes will be the responsibility of the National Food Security and Nutrition Council, supported by the Food Security and Nutrition Technical Committee and Secretariat, as well as other national coordinating structures such as the National Land-use and Environment Board. Responsibilities at Regional, Constituency and Village levels, is specified as well.