Authored on
Thu, 07/21/2022 - 23:11

The disaster risk management warehouse at Uukwangula, Oshana Region, which houses drought relief food for the Omusati, Kunene, Oshikoto, Ohangwena, and Oshana regions, is operational and ready to distribute food to the beneficiaries.

Currently, there are a total of 48,030 bottles of 750-ml cooking oil to be distributed in the Oshana Region over the next three months.

Other food items in the warehouse are 17,395 soya mince soup sachets and 17,894 bags of 20 kg of maize meal.

A consignment of canned pilchards is expected to be delivered next week, for distribution to resume in the Oshana Region.

At the time the nbc News team conducted the interview, there was only food for the Oshana and Oshikoto regions in the main warehouse.

Food for other regions had already been dispatched to the mini-storage facilities in the respective regions.

"As a region, we have registered about 17,894 households; we are supporting those households on a monthly basis, and the food that I have just indicated to you is just to cater for one month for those communities that are affected by drought. The registration of drought relief is ongoing, but those that are not illegible to be registered are assessed separately by our regional councillors, and at their discretion, if they see that there is a need for those households to be assisted, then they will be assisted by our officials," said Moses Matatias, the Deputy Director of Administration at the Oshana Regional Council.

92,789 beneficiaries have registered in the Oshana Region to receive food handouts.

Matatias says food is not kept at the warehouse for long; it is distributed monthly to the beneficiaries who need it.

He says there are challenges they face at the warehouse, but they are manageable.

"The challenges in terms of logistics, such as transportation, are that we need to make sure that we have effective trucks that are working 24 hours to make sure that we distribute this food to the community when they need it. That presents challenges because you have to make sure that those trucks are functional all the time, and we are managing well as a council."

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Tonateni Haimbodi