The late rains towards the end of March have left farmers doubting the survival of their farming enterprises.

On top of the late rains, farmers are unhappy with the rock-bottom prices they receive for their livestock at auctions. 

The nbc News team engaged some farmers in the communal areas of the region.

A seasonal farmer in the Epukiro Constituency, Charles Nguvauva, told nbc News team that this year started off badly as their earth dam was drying up. However, the area recently received close to 200 millimetres of rain.

Eight farmers from Gobabis were arrested for trespassing at Farm Witsand in the district of Witvlei.

The group moved into Farm Witsand on Saturday, which belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, with their livestock and other belongings.

According to the information obtained from the police, eight farmers moved into Farm Witsand, occupied the farm warehouse premises, and erected shacks without authorization.

Kunene Governor Marius Sheya says the government's drought mitigation programme has been a relief to the farmers.

Sheya was speaking at the handover of livestock, stoves, and water-softening borehole technologies at Khorixas auction kraal in the Kunene Region.

Sheya applauded the success measures of the IREMA project under the Environmental Investment Fund, which has been at the forefront of assisting farmers for over eight years.

To date, the Omaheke Region has recorded below 100 mm of rainfall; hence, the farming communities, through the Office of the Governor, proposed that virgin lands be found with new boreholes.

Other suggestions are that water be piped to areas with better grazing, harvesting of grass, and cleaning of boreholes at critical localities in both communal and resettlement areas, among other urgent interventions.

This was revealed by the regional governor, Pijoo Nganate, in an interview with the nbc News team at Gobabis. 

Farmers at the Hardap Irrigation Scheme are worried about the critically low levels of the Hardap Dam due to poor rainfall in the area.

They say if the dry conditions continue, it may have an adverse impact on the irrigation scheme that relies on water for production.

Dawie De Klerk, Chairperson of the Hardap Farmers Association, says the Hardap Dam levels have dropped to below 20%. 

He cautions that without inflow into the dam, full irrigation will only be allowed up to the first or second week of April this year.

The Otavi Constituency has announced that it will start registering farmers who have been pushed to townlands with their animals to benefit from drought relief food.

The Regional Councillor of the Otavi Constituency, George !Garab, says this group of farmers is a special case.

Otavi is surrounded by many farms, and subsistence farmers retire, some with few animals and others with nothing, to townlands and settle in informal settlements.

Farmers in Kabbe South in the Zambezi Region have suffered massive stock losses due to pasteurella, a respiratory disease.

Framers, particularly those from the Ikaba area of Zambezi Region, feel let down by the Directorate of Veterinary Services.

Farmers lost close to 260 cattle to pastereulla in recent times.

During a field trip to Ikaba, farmers we spoke to said they were left hopeless due to the outbreak.

Kavango West Governor Sirkka Ausiku has applauded farmers for keeping to the vision for the region to become agriculturally active and self-sufficient.

Ausiku addressed the Kavango West Farmers Union's second ordinary congress at Nkurenkuru.

Ausiku says that as the youngest region, the leadership saw it fit to strengthen its agricultural status.

In 2017, the Farmers Union was established to help reach this vision.

The Namibia Agronomic Board aims to capacitate local farmers to increase their yields and realise Namibia's food self-sufficiency. 

The Board is responsible for promoting the agronomic industry and facilitating the production, processing, storage, and marketing of controlled agricultural products in the country.

Its CEO, Dr. Fidelis Mwazi, sheds some light on this.

The Minister in the Presidency, Christine ||Hoebes, is urging farmers at Tsjaka and surrounding villages to change their methods of farming to increase food security.

||Hoebes remarked this at the official opening of the Tsjaka Agricultural and Industrial Show 2023 in the Kalahari Constituency.||Hoebes emphasised that it is time that farming communities move away from keeping large herds of livestock and add additional components to their farming practices.

She urged stakeholders to assist farmers in this regard.