Drought Already Devastating Ngamiland

Ngamiland District Commissioner (DC), Chabongwa Matseka revealed to The Monitor that 15,485 cattle have been killed by drought. She said 14,000 cattle died in the Maun administrative area while 1,485 perished in the Okavango sub-district. Matseka warned that the number may be higher as some farmers did not report their dead cattle to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Ngamiland, which houses forests, water and wildlife resources, is susceptible to changes in unreliable rainfall and warm temperatures currently engulfing the country. The El Nino phenomenon attributed to global warming found Ngamiland already reeling from serious environmental threats due to cattle overpopulation. First, Foot and Mouth Disease limited the  market access for farmers hence cattle population had grown beyond the district’s carrying capacity of 250, 000 to more than 500, 000 putting pressure on the depleted grazing pastures in communal areas.