Pula, pula nkgodise!
Mmegi Editor | Friday September 2, 2016 11:46
The scientific calculations are that the rainfall will be of normal to above normal in some parts of the country. This indeed is welcome news especially after the painfull drought of recent years which left a trail of despair.
The severe drought of the past three years especially has seen the collapse of many government programmes such as backyard gardens, and ISPAAD due of the El-Nino phenomenon. The nation has seen the worst crop production failure since that of the 1960s. The pride of Motswana and the main source of income, cattle and other livestock have died in shocking numbers because of shortage of grazing land and no water.
Food prices have soared because of poor yield in the country and the Southern Africa region. This year was the worst because the dry spell was compounded by regular heat waves that picked temperatures to over 40 degrees celcius in some parts of the country, whilst speeding up the drying of dams. Because of low rains for the past five years, the underground aquifers have been depleted.
If the Metrological services predictions proof correct, then authorities and Batswana in general need to rise to the occasion. Stakeholders need to take advantage of the rains and plough their fields to produce the much-needed food. We have to fully utilise the ISPAAD programme and go out in large numbers to ensure that we tilt our fields and do whatever is in our power to produce everything from cereals to stock-feeds, as well as beans and sorghum which have long storage time.
Weather experts have also indicated that we need to adjust our ploughing season to be at par with the obvious change we have witnessed in the weather patterns. There can be no truth than that as even an ignorant man can see that rain come late in October, and in November sometimes, and end in March or April. On the other hand our ploughing season stops in mid February and we have to move it forward by a month or even more.
Homesteads should also take advantage of the rainy season and acquire storage tanks to harvest the rainwater.
Rain also comes with all sorts of good and bad results, and we hope that the authorities are mobilising resources to take care of possible outbreak of opportunistic water-borne diseases, including those for livestock. Some flood-prone areas may not give a good reception to the rains and time is now for us to prepare for and prevent any possible flooding.
Let us all say goodbye to El Nino and do what we did as children, dance in the rain, and sing ‘pula, pula nkgodise’.
Today’s thought
“When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure.”
- Alice Hoffman, Here on Earth