Botswana hit by drought

Brian Benza
Staff Writer | Wednesday August 1, 2012 00:00

Government will spend P165 million on drought relief and other food safety net measures for young children and vulnerable members of society after a study revealed that the country's food security situation has deteriorated due to a partial drought in the 2011/12 agricultural seasons.According to a countrywide Crop Assessment Study conducted by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), the immediate past ploughing season was characterised by long dry spells which resulted in crop failure and diminished livestock grazing areas  across most parts of the country with the Bobirwa and the North West districts being the hardest hit.

This, MFDP report says, has accounted for the fall in this year's cereal production (sorghum, millet and maize) to only 34 percent of the country's 200,000 metric tonnes national requirement. The prevalence of underweight children was also found to have increased to above national targets.'In view of the conditions, 2012/13 is declared a partial drought year and relief measures, actions and assistance are to be implemented for the period August 1,  2012 to March 31, 2013. Among the measures, include the provision of a second meal for primary schools in non-remote but hard-hit areas, which include Kgalagadi District, Kweneng West Sub-District, North West District, Gantsi District, Mabutsane Sub-District and Bobirwa Sub-District until the end of the 2012/13 financial year,' reads the report.

In an interview yesterday, MFDP principal public relations officer Tshwaragano Mmereki said the melange of relief and assistance measures will cost P166 million and insisted that all the affected ministries will now be required to re-prioritise their budget.The study further reveals that the total area planted during 2011/12 is 340,687 hectares, which is lower than the 376,710 hectares planted in the 2010/11 season. The total national crop production is estimated at about 105,182 metric tonnes made up of some 58,646 metric tonnes from communal land and 46,536 metric tonnes from commercial areas.Underweight prevalence in children under the age of five was found to be at 4.7 percent in the first quarter of this year against a national target of 3 percent.'This situation could be attributed to the shortage of supplementary foods and the poor green harvest that was experienced in the previous year,' adds the report.

Underweight prevalence in children under the age of five increased from 3.6 percent in 2010 to 4.2 percent in 2011.As part of the safety net measures, the Ministry of Local Government will also start to provide for temporary destitute and vulnerable groups (Under 5s, 5-6 years, TB Outpatients, lactating and expectant mothers) during the drought period.On the other hand, the Ministry of Local Government will, during the drought period, increase Ipelegeng enrollments in the worst affected districts by re-allocating unutilised 2,000 slots from other components, such as crime prevention, of the Labour Intensive Public Works Programme.

The study, which was carried out between April 16 and May 6, 2012, also found that available grazing cannot sustain livestock until the next rainy season, particularly in areas such as north west and Bobirwa where the livestock population is very high due to the absence of adequate markets to sell such livestock. Minister of Agriculture, Christiaan De Graaff last week told a media briefing in Gaborone that Ngamiland area had surpassed its stocking capacity of 300,000 cattle by about 150,000, while Zone 7 had 50,000 cattle in excess.In a bid to avert a drought-fuelled socio-economic disaster in such areas, government says the Ministry of Agriculture should aggressively identify markets for the overstocked North West and Bobirwa areas to sell their livestock and thus ease pressure on grazing as well as stimulate their economies.

As another mitigation measure for the farmers, the ministry will procure and provide 25 percent subsidy for coarse salt, and other livestock supplements such as Dicalcium Phosphate, Drought pellets, Botulism vaccine and Vitamin ADEK. Going forward, government says that in an attempt to boost crop production, the Ministry of Agriculture should, from August 1 this year, develop and aggressively promote schemes that use technologies and methods that mitigate drought which include, among others seed distribution according to agro-ecological zones as well as intensification of public education on the significance of row planting, weeding, and fertiliser application.

Although the MFDP report sees the country food security situation worsening, a study released last week by researchers at global analytics firm, Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) says Botswana has Africa's most robust food security status after South Africa, largely on the back of the food safety net measures coupled with her relatively high purchasing power.The EIU's Global Food Security Index suggests that despite local and regional estimates indicating widespread crop failure and the growing threat of food shortages, Botswana's food security situation compares favourably on the continent with the country ranked 47th worldwide and second in Africa.Botswana's food security is linked to supply from South Africa, its ability to continue paying for these products and South Africa's ability to continue supplying them.