Thursday, September 4, 2008

Reclassifying drought in South Africa

IOL News (South Africa): The national department of agriculture has warned farmers in the central Karoo that with the onset of climate change, drought "may no longer be regarded as a disaster" and has called on farmers to adapt to increasingly variable and possibly drier conditions rather than relying on department funds to bail them out. A local climate change researcher has echoed the department's statement, saying that while scientists cannot establish a "clear-cut climate change forecast" for the central Karoo, it is likely that the area will experience droughts more often in future.

The central Karoo has been battered by a drought that has seen a number of farmers, particularly in Merweville, lock up or sell their farms and leave the area in search of work. In March, the provincial Department of Agriculture asked the national department for R37-million in drought relief.

In August, a spokesperson for the national department said it had no funds set aside for disasters and would consider the farmers' request this month. Agri Wes-Cape's Chief Executive Officer Carl Opperman told the Cape Times it now seemed likely the request would not be considered until late in October or early in November when the department's mid-term budgets were discussed.

National department of agriculture spokesperson Priscilla Tsotso Sehoole has confirmed this, but also issued a stern warning to drought-hit farmers: "(The) Karoo area has been receiving less rainfall and this could be the effects of climate change. Therefore, the response should not only focus on funds." Sehoole called on farmers in the area to "adapt to the situation as this may no longer be regarded as disaster".

…"We are expecting droughts more often. Farmers need to change the way they farm - they need to be aware that droughts will be more frequent," he said. "Things are unlikely to get better in the long term." He said that while funds were useful in the case of an emergency or a disaster, the likely increase in dryness meant that "people must change, adapt"….

Map of South Africa from the CIA World Factbook, Wikimedia Commons

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