Ongwediva — The prolonged drought at Uuvudhiya in Oshana Region could soon be over, as the area continues to have sufficient grazing land and water for livestock since the last rainy season.
However, due to the influx of livestock, the area ran short of grazing space and water, leaving thousands of livestock to die of hunger and thirst.
Constituency councillor of Uuvudhiya, Amutenya Ndahafa, said drought in his constituency is finally over.
"We had sufficient rainfall this year hence we still have enough grass and water to last us until the next rainy season," said Ndahafa.
He said Lake Oponona and several others, which had been running dry for the last few years, finally has enough water.
He said drought has reduced drastically this year and the constituency is not always inundated with reports of dying livestock, as has been the case in the last few years.
Besides those who had a bountiful yield, he said the San in the constituency are taking the strain in efforts to fully integrate into the system of cultivating their own food.
"Generally, the situation has improved.
We only have the few San that we give drought relief when it is available," said Ndahafa.
Several parts of the northern regions have since last Sunday received some showers.

Rwandan Minister of Agriculture Gerardine Mukeshimana speaks at the opening of the 7th Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in Kigali, capital of Rwanda, on Oct. 30, 2017.
Developing drought- and disease-resistant crops is vital amid concerns of growing effects of climate change on food security on the African continent, agriculture experts said in Kigali on Monday.
(Xinhua/Gabriel Dusabe) KIGALI, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) — Developing drought- and disease-resistant crops is vital amid concerns of growing effects of climate change on food security on the African continent, agriculture experts said in Kigali on Monday.
The experts are in the Rwandan capital attending the 7th Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).
"Science and research plays an essential role on agricultural systems including crop varieties.
He called on African countries to allocate more funds to do research on crops able to resist climate change, droughts and other shocks to bridge crop production gap and ensure food security.
Countries need to have as many varieties as possible in circulation among farmers so that when one crop is attacked, others will grow, she said.
Broadening research in climate resilient food crops will play a central role in helping farmers in drought-affected regions, said Selim Guvener, general counsel of International Potato Center based in Peru.
So we need to introduce various kinds of crop varieties capable of surviving dry conditions," he said.
Hunger is on the rise in the world as, overall, hungry people increased to 815 million in 2016 from 777 million in 2015, according to a report issued by the Food Agriculture and Organization of the United Nations.

Tim Luken, manager of Oahe Grain in central South Dakota said, "Beans are done, and we while don’t take any beans here, I can tell you, I have heard yields to be 15 to 60 bpa and have also heard a lot of 40 to 45 bpa."
"As far as our corn crop, I have talked with farmers and am hearing yields 40 to 125 bpa," Luken said.
Field moistures are all over in these type of fields at 18.5 to 21% moisture.
sunflowers, and thanks to the late frost we had this year again, the sunflowers picked up more test weight and oil content."
"The soybean harvest went well with yield from 30s to upper 40s; good bean yields for the moisture we had.
Test weight is good so far, but yields are less than average but a little better than expected considering the season, and (we’re) just happy to start getting it out of the field.
We had a good run harvesting soybeans with moistures dropping throughout harvest, and we finished with soybean moistures below 10%."
Heading into eastern North Dakota, an elevator manager told me that they were done with beans and ended up with a 39 bpa average versus last year’s record of 52 bpa.
"Yields so far at 170 bpa vs. last year yield of nearly 200.
Good test weight and moistures down to 17% this past week."

The drought made for a tough summer for many farmers and ranchers in South Dakota.
And while some areas have received some late beneficial rains and are recovering, not everyone has been that fortunate.
"I don’t think we’ve had over a half inch since then at any one time.
There are areas that have done better, but in our area … we just haven’t had it."
Isabel cattle producer Mike Maher also culled some cows and sold calves early to preserve pasture and get the cows in good condition for winter.
"On our corn we can run from a 155- to 160-bushel average.
So, some of the early corn was 120."
"We’ve been fortunate to get some rain here in July and August that have held our cattle in the pastures a little bit longer probably than they normally would have," Cody Volmer with Presho Livestock Auction says.
Many of those producers also received help from emergency release of CRP acres for haying and grazing and the Livestock Forage Program, which will get them through the winter.
However, even in areas where the drought lingers, ranchers say this isn’t the first time they’ve faced adversity so they’ll pull themselves up by the bootstraps and wait for rain.

EL WAK, Somalia – In this remote town on the Horn of Africa, about 270 miles south of the capital city of Mogadishu, school children loiter in the streets in search of food.
“I can’t go to school.
“We cannot keep students in schools because we have no food and water to give them,” said Farah Hassan, a teacher at Bursar Primary School in the El Wak district of the Gedo region.
“Many have been forced to leave school in search of water and food.
Others have gone to urban centers to escape drought.” In a statement, Norwegian Refugee Council Regional Director Gabriella Waaijman said the scale of the crisis is alarming.
In June, the British nonprofit World Vision International reported that more than 80,000 children in Somalia who had been enrolled in school were forced out of education due to school closures and because they were migrating with their families due to the drought.
“In drought-affected areas of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, we have heard of schools closing because children no longer attend, as they search for food or water to survive.” More children in Somalia will drop out of school in the months to come if drought conditions persist, Imeje added.
“I’m heading to the camp right now so that I can get some food to eat,” she said, with a torn schoolbag hanging precariously on her back.
I have not eaten anything for the past week.” Several schools in the Qandala area have been closed.
More and more parents say they are ready to sacrifice education and keep their children out of school if the drought persists.

And of particular concern, there is no significant rain in sight.
This is the first time in my memory that this has happened and I’ve been around for a very long time.
Instead, water thoroughly, stop and water again a half-hour later.
This leaves the soil ready for planting come spring.
But tilling during such dry conditions will only cause whatever small amount of moisture may remain in the soil to evaporate, leaving the soil even drier than before.
So instead of tilling, just weed your gardens and then spread compost over them.
The only true solution to this problem is rain, a steady, soaking rain.
Conserve water People on municipal water tend not to worry about droughts.
But that doesn’t make the problem any less severe.
This is rarely noticeable, which accounts for the lack of concern on the part of urban residents.

Drought monitoring research — Trent Ford, assistant professor of geography and environmental resources at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is beginning a three-year drought monitoring and prediction study focused on improving the reliability and access to soil moisture data.
He recently accepted a three-year, $147,241 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections (MAPP) program, in partnership with the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) program.
The project, “Developing National Soil Moisture Products to Improve Drought Monitoring,” seeks to leverage existing observations of soil moisture conditions collected by measurement networks into a nationally accessible database, with standard measures and data collection methodologies, and to integrate new sources of soil moisture data.
Ford’s work expands on a pilot effort begun through NIDIS.
Scientists also monitor soil moisture remotely by satellite.
His end-goal is to develop a national drought-monitoring product that integrates the different soil moisture monitors already in use, creating one clearinghouse that will provide information for immediate use and future research on drought conditions across the nation.
“This will contribute to water conservation efforts and responsible resource use,” he said.
She ended up with an undergraduate assistantship, and now is working with Ford through the grant.
Luca Anna Palasti, a junior from Nyíregyháza, Hungary, was initially interested in economics but soon realized her interest in the environment was better met in SIU’s geography and environmental resources program.
Angelina Arcuri, a sophomore from Carpentersville, switched her major from forestry and focuses on climatology and water resources.

Most of Carroll County was still suffering from drought conditions before Wednesday’s plodding rain, but it’s unclear how much of an effect the .84-inch rainfall will have.
The 1.33 inches that fell last week did not pull the county from the moderate drought moniker it has from the U.S. Drought Monitor.
It did, however, keep Carroll from a more-serious level of drought.
Parts of south-central Iowa are now experiencing severe drought.
“The hot and humid weather created stress for both crops and livestock last week, particularly in areas that have missed the recent rains,” Bill Northey, the state’s secretary of agriculture, said in his weekly crop report on Monday.
“South-central Iowa is very dry, with over 90 percent of topsoil short or very short of moisture.” Much of this week has been cooler than normal in Carroll, according to National Weather Service data.
The cooler temperatures are expected to continue through the weekend with highs in the low 80s.
The next chance for rain is Wednesday.
Even with the recent rains Carroll is more than an inch shy of what is typically expected for July.
Last month Carroll was 3 1/2 inches shy.

He used to grow maize and beans, but irregular and insufficient rainfall meant he harvested very little – five bags of maize at most per season, which earned him 10,000 Kenyan shillings ($96) at the market.
Joseph Mureithi, director of the organization, said that “rain-fed staple farming is becoming increasingly difficult in Kenya due to poor rainfall, whereas growing fodder can help farmers withstand prolonged drought.” For two years Mutisya has been growing Rhodes grass to supplement his income.
He sells grass bales to herders for 200 Kenyan shillings ($2) each, and makes up to 200,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,930) per season.
Thomson Reuters Foundation/Kagondu Njagi Mutisya said the growing demand for fodder from herders in times of drought is what makes it such an attractive proposition for subsistence farmers like him.
“Pastoralists are realizing that in dry weather it is better to buy fodder for their livestock instead of walking long distances in search of pastures, and risk their animals dying along the way,” he explained.
Our livestock die,” he said, pointing to the village path littered with rotting animal carcasses.
Melita now buys about 60 hay bales every month, which he says allow him to keep his livestock fed and alive, even in dry weather.
The herders’ group has been encouraging people to sell some of their animals during drought, to buy fodder or pay for family food or school fees.
“Pastoralists rely on fodder grown by farmers.
Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience.

After more than three months of drought restrictions, New Braunfels Utilities is lifting once-a-week watering limits starting Friday.
NBU customers will be able to use outdoor sprinklers and irrigation systems any day of the week before 10 a.m. and after 8 p.m., the public utility serving New Braunfels and surrounding areas announced Thursday.
NBU is lifting the restrictions after 30 days during which the water level of the J-17 well that taps the Edwards Aquifer below San Antonio sat 660 feet above mean sea level.
With the region receiving little rain in October, the aquifer level is on the decline but still was a little over 662 feet on Thursday.
“Lawns are beginning to go dormant, and watering more than once a week is really not necessary,” NBU Environmental Affairs Manager Suzanne Williams said in a prepared statement.
“Because of the impact that landscape watering can have on the aquifer … we encourage our customers to only water when absolutely necessary.” bgibbons@express-news.net | Twitter: @bgibbs