The dry conditions associated with El Niño also caused 1,170 outbreaks of wildfires during the recently ended summer, affecting 855,861 hectares of land, an area nearly seven times larger than New York City.
“Delayed rains and the extended dry spells severely impacted crops with most wilting and failing early in the season. “The livestock sector is experiencing the effects of an extreme drought,” the drought declaration statement reads.
In response, the government will pay 85% of seasonal loans farmers received from state financiers, provide a 30% livestock feed subsidy and increase the national labour-based social support programme by 30,000 new positions.
The government will also provide double food rations to moderately and severely underweight children up to five years old, while also providing double rations to other vulnerable groups such as expectant mothers. An extra meal a day is being considered for children in government primary schools countrywide, while elderly people previously dependent on agriculture will also receive a food basket for 12 months.
The immediate cost of the interventions was not provided but government has in the past spent upwards of P500 million on fewer drought emergency initiatives than announced this year. It is expected that the Finance ministry will table a supplementary budget in the upcoming Winter Parliament, to finance the various initiatives associated with the drought declaration.
The government has declared drought emergencies of varying degrees in the past three cropping seasons, which run from October to March, with only the 2019–2020 receiving adequate rainfall for crops and livestock.
The country’s grain agency, the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board, last month said it was considering maize and sorghum imports from Brazil and Australia, as El Niño affected the regional market from where supplies are traditionally sourced.
The declaration of an “extreme drought” confirms forecasts shared by the Agriculture ministry with The Monitor last month, where officials said little yields were expected from the country’s farmers.
The El Niño phenomenon, associated with heatwaves and poor rains in Southern Africa, saw rains in February drop to a 40-year low.
“The country is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years,” a Ministry of Agriculture official said in May, responding to enquiries from The Monitor.
SADC heads of state last month launched a $5.5 billion global appeal for humanitarian aid, in the wake of a devastating El Niño-hit summer that brought record droughts and floods to more than 60 million people in the region.
