Today, we are going to discuss the topic of food insecurity in Namibia. It is something that affects the daily lives of may Namibians. We hope to bring light to some of the different layers to this topic and why it is a complex issue that cannot be solved overnight.
“Food security, as defined by the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.”
Food security. Retrieved from https://www.ifpri.org/topic/food-security
The food security of Namibia is not something that can be fixed with one program or resource. Food security deals with the availability, access, utilization and stability of food in a community. It is an issue that will need to be looked at from many different angles in order to be addressed. The goal of our project is to provide a possible tool for Namibian people to use in their daily lives, helping them with their food security. Namibia as a country is putting some programs in place to deal with food security, we hope to only add to these efforts.
Namibia gained its independence thirty years ago and with this brought change for the country. It has gone through fast urbanization, economic change and a shift in the way its people live. All of these factors have contributed to the food insecurity of the country.
With new freedoms, many Namibian people saw this as a chance to migrate to new regions. Many people flocked to the cities, such as Windhoek, in the hopes of new job opportunities. However, once there, many of these people were confronted with the harsh reality that there weren’t new jobs to acquire. Along with few jobs, these migrant families were also faced with a limited amount of affordable food. While there are plentiful supermarkets and food is available, the price is often a very large obstacle for the average Namibian person. The food is typically imported from central and southern commercial farms causing it to be very expensive compared to if it were grown locally. Specifically in Windhoek, large amounts of their fruits and vegetables are imported from South Africa. This shows why getting a balanced diet is often an issue for the average Namibian person, especially immigrants.
The limited job market of Namibia can be seen in how the country's economy is growing. As of 2015, the unemployment rate of Namibia was 34%. For a lower-middle-income country, this is very high. In 2008 the Namibia Labour Force Survey documented that Namibia had the largest unemployment rate when compared to Botswana, Lesotho, Mali, Namibia, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, and Sub- Saharan Africa. Due to the large amounts of unemployment, poverty, and food insecurity, Namibia has one the the most unequal income distributions of Africa. If you were to look at Namibia's economy on the surface, it seems as though the country is flourishing. Their economy has grown tremendously since declaring their independence in 1990. However, through statistics such as the Gini coefficient, it shows that not every Namibian is progressing economically. The Gini coefficient measures the income distribution among a population, or rather the wealth distribution. In the mid-90s, post independence, Namibia had a Gini coefficient of 0.7 which was the largest of any country. Then in a government report which was released in 2008, based on data from 2004, the Gini coefficient shrunk to a value of 0.63. While the number did slightly decrease, the status of having the largest economic inequality still remained. This shows that there are large discrepancies in how the average person in Namibia is living. There are some people that are thriving, but on the other side there is a large percentage of the population that is not.
Today, the country’s economy consists of two major sectors: the modern market and the agricultural market. The modern market, of imports and exports, contributes to 90% of the country’s GDP. They export many raw materials and import their consumer goods. While this may make it seem like agriculture is unimportant, quite the opposite is true. Despite agriculture only contributing to 5% of the country’s GDP, 70% of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Within this agricultural system there is both commercial farming and subsistence farming. Commercial farming is what contributes to the country's wealth, whereas subsistence farming is how many Namibians support themselves, establishing their own food sources. An example of a new form of subsistence farming is the use of an aquaponics system. This could be a wonderful resource also because of the toll that climate change is having on Namibia's agricultural market.
Signs of climate change can be seen in the historical trends of increasing daily maximum temperature, the increase in heavy rainfall scattered by dry periods, and the frequency of droughts in the country. There is a prediction that by 2020 the rainfall and evaporation will have increased by 30% due to the increase in dry climate. Drought and water availability pose a large issue for the Namibian agricultural system. It is causing farmers to struggle feeding their cattle due to the land becoming barren and depleted of grazing plants. It also inhibits crop growth. As of October 2019, Namibia extended their state of emergency by six months and allocated N$570 million to help drought affected farmers. N$138 million is specifically going towards a livestock support program. While not all farmers have seen this money, it shows the undeniable affects the drought has had and will continue to have on the Namibian way of life. Their agricultural system is being devastated by the climate change that the world is experiencing.
All of these different aspects of Namibia's society, lead to the food insecurity of the Namibian people. It is a complex issue that has several different factors such as climate change, economic structure and even food availability. We hope that some of these facts help you to understand why food security is such a pressing issue in Namibia. It is not something that can be solved overnight or tomorrow. It is something that is perpetuated due to how a society functions and with tools such as subsistence farming, hopefully we can start to help the average Namibian person with achieving a balanced and reliable diet.
Sources
Brandon Van Wyk, & Loide Ambondo. (2019). Drought pushes farmers to the edge. Retrieved from https://www.namibian.com.na/193833/archive-read/Drought-pushes-farmers-to-the-edge
Dima, S. J., Ogunmokun, A. A., & Nantanga, T. (2002). The status of urban and peri-urban agriculture in windhoek and oshakati, namibia.
Jauch, H. (2012). Poverty, unemployment and inequality in namibia. TEMTI Series of Economic Perspectives on Global Sustainability,
Levine, S., & Roberts, B. (2013). Robust estimates of changes in poverty and inequality in Post‐Independence namibia. South African Journal of Economics, 81(2), 167-191. doi:10.1111/j.1813-6982.2012.01335.x
Mwinga, M. (2012a). Unemployment in namibia: Measurement problems, causes and policies. First Capital Research.Windhoek: Namibia,
Pendleton, W., Crush, J., & Nickanor, N. (2014). Migrant Windhoek: Rural–Urban Migration and Food Security in Namibia. Urban Forum, 25(2), 191–205.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-014-9220-x
Siyambango, N., Kanyimba, A. T., & Mufune, P. (2015). Indigenous knowledge and climate change in rural namibia: A gendered approach. () University of Namibia Press.
Stauffer, J. (2006). Hydroponics. Cereal Foods World, 51(2), 83. doi:10.1094/CFW-51-0083
Namibia. Retrieved fromhttps://www.wfp.org/countries/namibia