Speakers at the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought say women should be empowered to own land and produce food for the nation.

Namibia observed the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought at Usakos, in the Karibib Constituency.

This constituency, together with Daures in the Erongo Region, was hard hit by drought, and in 2019, close to 1,800 families had to rely on drought relief food from the government to survive.

Water scarcity continues to be a challenge in some parts of the Erongo Region, and Governor Neville Andre has urged the Orano Erongo Desalination Plant to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the government to help fight the water crisis in rural areas of the region.

Andre said this during the opening of the visitor centre at the Erongo Desalination Plant, 35 kilometres outside Swakopmund.

Neville Andre says there's nothing more essential to life on earth than water. Yet there's a global water crisis.