Grain silos almost empty

At the end of last month, the stock level of Namibia’s grain storage facilities was at only 11% of their overall holding capacity.

The national strategic food reserves, which are located across the country, had a stock level of 2 422 tonnes by 30 March this year.

The total holding capacity of these facilities is 22 900 tonnes, according to the agriculture ministry’s crop prospects and food security situation report for March.

It indicated that the available stock consists of 458.9 tonnes of white maize at the Katima Mulilo silo, which is 6.2% of its capacity of 7 400 tonnes.

The Rundu silo had 69.86 tonnes of white maize, which is only 1.5% of its 4 000-tonne capacity, while at the Tsandi silo, there was 767 tonnes of white maize. This is 25.6% of its 3 000-tonne holding capacity.

The Okongo silo had 1 135 tonnes of pearl millet, which is 25.2% of its holding capacity of 4 500 tonnes.

The Omuthiya silo, which has a holding capacity of 4 000 tonnes, is empty.



Imports

Meanwhile, during the marketing season from May 2022 to February 2023, Namibia imported a total of 152 000 tonnes of crops.

This included 102 300 tonnes of wheat, 49 500 tonnes of white maize and 238 tonnes of pearl millet.

The report estimated that 273 800 tonnes of cereals would be available locally for the 2022/2023 marketing and consumption period in Namibia.

This comprised 52 800 tonnes of wheat, 169 400 tonnes of white maize and 51 500 tonnes of pearl millet and sorghum.

This estimation was made from the forecasted production of 256 700 tonnes and the 17 100 tonnes of opening stock available at the beginning of May 2022.

However, the domestic cereal requirement is 382 700 tonnes.