Drought relief: Good news but...

Editor | Thursday August 2, 2012 00:00

The drought will cause a food deficit and hunger that must be sorted out to avert a famine. The government deserves commendation for boosting the food safety programme and taking other relief and assistance measures to make sure that nobody goes hungry in this great republic. From the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, we hear that the remedial measures with cost over P160 million that will be made available by re-prioritising certain ministerial budgets.

This is good and praiseworthy. It means that we are a country that is capable of feeding its people even when we are in dire straits. We are not in the league of other nations where people and livestock die from drought-related famine when resources that could help them are available but have been misappropriated or misallocated. We are able to do this despite our budget deficits and reduced government revenues caused by the global economic crisis. The Botswana economy was the hardest hit in Africa by the global crisis, but because of stellar economic performance over the years, we have coped fairly well. Sadly, this good record is sometimes not reflected in the way we do things in certain quarters. For example, we know we are a drought-prone country, yet we do not seem capable of saving ourselves from the vagaries of the weather that come in the form of drought more often than not. Ours is a semi-arid country with vast tracts of land lying idle because of a small population. While many see this as a curse, the reality is that it should be a blessing, and we know it. That is why some time back, we sent a team to Israel to learn how the Jewish state with a similar climate and soil conditions has become a giant in crop farming. With the right approach, Botswana can become self-sufficient in food production. Yet 46 years after independence, we are still a net importer of food despite the fact that agriculture was the mainstay of the economy until the discovery of minerals. Just as we have become an 'African Miracle' by pulling ourselves out of poverty to considerable prosperity, we can repeat the magic in the crop farming sector. We have done it before when we were less endowed and we can do it again now that we have the money and the knowhow. The government, the people and other stakeholders need to come together in a more effective way to turn Botswana into a green country. But first, the country needs to overcome its obsession with livestock rearing to fully embrace crop farming. With innovation, foresight and determination, the non-livestock sub-sector can be boosted to play a greater role in the economy. 

                                                                Today's thought'For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet personally. We created myths and spirits in an attempt to explain the patterns of nature.'

                                                                - Ann Druyan