Drought assessment on-going
Baboki Kayawe | Tuesday February 9, 2016 12:39
Though this is an annual exercise carried after the cropping season, the call was made much earlier than usual this year, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has explained.
Drought assessments are carried at local authority level hence the MLGRD is the focal ministry though various ministries make up the team.
The permanent secretary in the ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Molefhe Keaja explained in a media statement that the assessment is conducted by a task team of officials from various ministries, and made up of two groups.
“Every year during the cropping season, government undertakes a Drought and Household Food Security Assessment tour of the country. In view of the severity of the current drought this year’s tour will be conducted earlier than usual from the 1st February to the 22nd February 2016,” Keaja said.
The objectives of the tour are to assess rainfall distribution across the country, crop, grazing and rangeland situation, nutritional status of vulnerable groups, and magnitude of destitution in terms of number and distribution as well as implementation of Ipelegeng programme.
“At the end of the tour, the team will determine whether the country is drought or not and advice government for appropriate interventions,” said Keaja.
The country is undergoing its worst drought with meteorologists having said this is the worst dry-spell the region has had in 34 years.
Last December, government increased livestock feed subsidy from 25 percent to 50 percent to further cushion farmers from the excruciating effects of the drought.
Incidents of drought are forecast to increase in frequency and severity as the effects of climate change deepens. This revelation is contained in Botswana’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted ahead of the UN climate change meeting, Conference of the Parties (COP21) that started last Monday in France.
In preparation for the 2015 Paris climate meeting, countries agreed to publicly outline their post 2020 climate actions under a new international agreement, known as INDCs.
The forecast is a blow to the country as Botswana is already witnessing impacts of climate change with constrained agricultural production, increasing food insecurity and increasing water stress, which will worsen with time, as projected.