Drought assessment begins
Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Tuesday April 15, 2014 13:46
The exercise is done to establish and assess food availability, rainfall distribution across the country, grazing and rangeland situation, nutritional status of vulnerable groups, magnitude of destitute in terms of number and distribution, as well as the implementation of Ipelegeng programmes.
The assessment is reportedly conducted every year during the cropping season by two task teams, which cover districts on the western and eastern parts of the country.
At the end of the tour, the team will establish whether the country is drought stricken or not and advise government accordingly for appropriate interventions. On the strength of the committee’s recommendations, last July President Ian Khama declared 2013/14 a drought year, releasing P217.5 million in various drought relief measures up to April 30, 2014. The measures include stronger support for vulnerable groups, higher Ipelegeng quotas and subsidies for various agricultural inputs.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture, Christian De Graaff has suggested that the recently ended rainy season was better than the previous one even though rains arrived late, especially in the southern part. The country experienced prolonged heavy rains in January and February, which hampered planting processes, he told the media recently. Farmers around Gaborone have also noted that the rainy season was adequate as they are harvesting enough for their families, and even have excess to sell in the city.
In an Mmegi snap-survey conducted last week, farmers noted that while the rains came late, this had not discouraged them from ploughing.
“Now my family has enough food. We will not need to buy basic food items like maize, sorghum and beans from the supermarkets,” said Mompati Tebahano told Mmegi last week.