In the current period (July – September 2020), around 428,000 people (17% of the population) are facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3) or worse, including around 45,000 people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). This population requires urgent humanitarian action in order to reduce food gaps, protect and restore livelihoods and prevent acute malnutrition.

The regions of Kunene, Erongo, Khomas, Ohangwena, Kavango West, Omaheke and Zambezi are classified in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) while the remaining seven analysed districts are in Stressed (IPC Phase 2). The main drivers of acute food insecurity in the country are: prolonged dry spells, flooding and loss of income due to impacts of COVID-19 control measures on livelihoods.

In the projected period (October 2020 to March 2021), around 441,000 people are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3) or worse. The region of Erongo was not analysed during this period; out of the 14 regions in the country, Erongo was the only one under lockdown due to COVID-19, therefore, no assessments could be conducted.

During the projected period, the regions of Kunene, Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Kavango West, Otjozondjupa, Khomas, Omaheke, Zambezi are classified in Crisis (IPC Phase 3), while the rest of the analysed regions remain in Stressed (IPC Phase 2). The impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures will likely continue to put pressure on households’ capacity to access food.

Response Priorities

• Introduce drought-tolerant crop varieties to help reduce vulnerability to drought.
• Develop water management strategies, including irrigation and water harvesting technologies.
• Provide livestock support to households that rely on livestock sales for food by subsidizing the production of supplemental animal feed, which will also reduce the loss of livestock due to drought.
• Promotion of resilience-building initiatives, such as climate-smart agriculture. Create early warning systems to provide timely information to farmers.
• Incorporate disaster risk reduction and management in all government programmes, such as work for agricultural assets programmes.
• Increase community social protection programmes.
• Support livelihood and income diversification.
• Improve human land-use management to reduce land degradation and desertification.

Risk factors to monitor

• There is a need to monitor all risk factors and other causes of food security due to the unpredictable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• With the sluggish economies across the globe, monitoring market prices will be key as the majority of the citizens are dependent on markets for all food items except cereals.
• There is a need to monitor rainfall performance since the majority of crop-producing regions are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, therefore, rainfall becomes key to their production chain. Monitor onset, coverage, and dry spells in order to estimate the next harvest/production.
• Market prices for basic commodities.
• Crop pests and diseases.
• Animal diseases and prices for animal medications.
• COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy.