Heavy rain and storms destroyed about 40 hectares of maize at the Uvhungu-vhungu Green Scheme in the Kavango East Region.

This occurred in the early hours of Tuesday. The storm started at around 1:00am and is estimated to have lasted about 20 minutes.

According to farm manager Floris Smith, in 20 years of managing the farm, this is the first time they have experienced such an incident.

"So, last night at about 1 o'clock, a heavy rainstorm with terribly strong winds occurred, and all the maize is down. We have to pick it up by hand now. The cobs are there. We might not get any rotten crops, but we have very large expenses now in labour, and we might have broken seeds. The quality of the maize might go down, and it's an extra expense. We lost two of the center pivots, like this. So, some plants are standing, but that is the minority. I think we lost around 40 hectares of maize for this reason. A lot of trees are down, broken branches, broken trees. We are very lucky that none of the buildings are damaged and none of our equipment are damaged. It's only the fields that have damage because of the maize that was blown over by that terrible wind."

Smith said they planted a full farm covering 311 hectares with maize, which was going to be one of the best harvests. The maize was ready for harvest within two weeks.

"If no rain occurs after today and we have sunny weather, then the plants should dry off. We are continuing to do moisture testing because the moisture must be below 14%. Otherwise, we cannot deliver that. So we will keep testing the moisture. Plant material might still be wet for the next four or five days. But if we have hot sunshine, it can dry quicker. While it's wet from rain or moisture, it's a no-go; we have to wait. Even if we have normal harvest conditions, we do not start harvesting before 9 o'clock in the morning. For the moisture to be burned down by the sun, it must be dry."

Smith stated they will need manual labour for harvesting, as the combine harvester will pick up sand particles, which would affect the quality of the maize meal. An estimated 100 people will be needed to hand-pick the maize.