Niël Terblanché
EFFORTS are currently underway to assist farmers and resettled communities with fodder for the animals and water supply pipes that were destroyed during the bushfire that raged for almost a week in farming areas to the southeast of Windhoek.
The fire claimed the life of a pensioner and destroyed thousands of hectares of grazing was finally brought under control on Saturday night.
Individual farmers of the area still had to fight smaller fires where the bushes re-ignited when the wind picked up but those individual fires were also brought under control by exhausted teams of workers and farmers.
In the aftermath of the widespread destruction, many of the farmers do not have fodder to feed their animals and Good Samaritans from other parts of the country has already pledged to deliver bales of grass and other feed to the worst affected areas.
In some instances, pipelines that supply water to homes and cattle posts have been destroyed by the flames and some farmers have requested their fellows to assist them to rebuild the damaged infrastructure.
The Namibia Agricultural Union has launched a campaign to appeal to other industry players, institutions, and individuals to contribute to the Dare to Care Disaster Fund to assist affected farmers.
