Bloomberg
BOTSWANA was experiencing “a drought year” after below-average rainfall that caused poor grazing conditions for farmers, the acting Agriculture Minister Patrick Ralotsia said this week.
“This year is evolving to be a very bad one,” Ralotsia told reporters in Gaborone. “In most parts of the country, crops are already showing signs of total failure due to stunted growth, while others reached permanent wilting.”
The country’s primary crops are wheat, sorghum and maize. The area planted this crop season had declined 69 percent to 127 800 hectares from a year earlier, while the number of farmers had dropped 78 percent to 28 000, Ralotsia said.
The country’s president has the power to officially declare a drought, making state resources available to farmers, schoolchildren and the poor, among others.
“If it were by me, looking only at the agricultural sector, I would say this is a drought year,” Ralotsia said. “We have experienced below-average rainfall this season and as a result the grazing condition is not good, and unfortunately it will deteriorate further as the season progresses. Cattle will lose condition or even die. I take this opportunity to urge farmers to destock.”
Once drought-assessment teams concluded their countrywide tours, a report and recommendations would be forwarded to President Ian Khama, who could then decide on declaring a drought, Ralotsia said.
The declaration of a drought in July 2013 triggered a range of state-funded interventions costing a collective 217.5 million pula (R263.4m).
The country had adequate grain reserves should supplies within the commercial sector fail, said Edison Wotho, the chief executive of the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board.
Ralotsia said that farmers should destock old cows, oxen and cows without calves immediately to avoid losses.