WINDHOEK, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's flagship Kalimbeza Green Scheme Irrigation Project in the northeastern part of the country may suffer major losses as flood reduces its IRGA medium rice variety yields, said Matengu Simataa, an official at the project on Monday.
Namibia's Meteorological Services predicts that the Zambezi River will continue to rise, leaving surrounding communities more prone to flooding, including Kalimbeza.
According to Simataa, due to flooding, the rice yields for medium grain rice variety is anticipated to be poor this year, compared to the two previous years.
"Some of the rice has been submerged and under water; leading to massive damage. Some of the grains have changed its color to black. The project may not therefore harvest the targeted metric tonnes of rice as expected," he said.
To prevent further losses, the project has since deployed casual workers to harvest the unspoiled rice in the flooded plains.
"Flooding has made it difficult to harvest the rice with machinery, thus we have resorted to hiring casual workers to harvest to prevent further wastage of the rice if not harvested. However, the casual workers can also only do it within reach," he said.
After planting medium grain rice variety on 47 hectares of land, the project will have to harvest rice covering 22 hectares of land, according to Simataa.
Meanwhile, he said that other rice varieties including the Supa long rice are not at risk due to its ability to sustain and resist high water levels.
Kalimbeza rice, commercialized in 2014, has been farming with Angola Basmati, Supa long rice varieties and IRGA (medium grain) since 2007.
Kalimbeza rice project is one of the ventures benefitting from an agreement on South to South Cooperation signed between China and Namibia.
