Ferocious drought strikes Lake Ngami

The jewel of Ngamiland is already turning into a stench of rotting carcasses because of the drought, which is already distressing the area. Now some fear that it will get worse before it gets any better. The whole country was declared drought stricken following the 2014/15 drought and household assessment.

Community leaders in the area around Lake Ngami spend sleepless nights because of the situation which is getting worse by the day. The transformation of the dusty dry lake into an extensive expanse of water has displaced many cattle around the district into surrounding grazing areas, leading to overgrazing and severe rangeland degradation.

Recently Maun Administrative councillors in collaboration with Veterinary officials visited the area. There is now fear that the 2012/13 drought which killed over 15 000 cattle will repeat itself but this time, with ferocious intensity. So many factors which contribute to the drought have been established among them overstocking in the area.

Ngamiland farmers are unable to sell their livestock unlike farmers in other districts because the area is hit by the monster of foot and mouth disease. There is also the lurking danger posed by the ballooning wildlife population especially the elephants to the farmers.

According to the chairman of Ngamiland United Farmers Association Frank Mafela, the association is aware of the situation at Lake Ngami. He said that foot and mouth disease is continuing to hit hard on farmers and is the contributing factor to overstocking which is distressing the area.

The secretary of the Ngamiland Farmers Association, Hureva Tjavanga said the  only way of getting rid of the drought which is hitting the area, is to sell some cattle to local butcheries in order to supplement the livestock and to buy feeds using the subsidy  government has provided for supplementary  feeds at Livestock Advisory Centres (LACs).

Dr. Kabo Ndlovu of the Veterinary Services said they are aware of the situation at Lake Ngami adding that the most affected areas around the lake are crushes of Toteng, Sehithwa, Bodibeng and Bothatogo. However Dr. Ndovu did not have the numbers of cattle killed by the drought around the area because the farmers are not reporting them to his office.

A farmer in Bodibeng, Kuruuo Kanyose, said they are growing disillusioned with the beef industry as they are continuously exposed to natural disasters and diseases in their area. He said they are unable to move their cattle to areas that are not badly affected by drought because animal movement is restricted in their area due to foot and mouth disease.

He however praised the government’s subsidy on selected livestock feed and supplements to relieve farmers of the drought. Kanjose appealed to the government to write off the loans farmers owe to National Development Bank as part of the foot and mouth relief fund, because they are continuing to lose their cattle to drought, adding that he has already lost more than 100 cattle.

Meanwhile the Maun sub-council chairman Gaokgakala Letswee said that the only intervention government has made was to reduce livestock feeds and supplementary prices by 35 percent. However he argued that it is of no use because farmers cannot afford to buy the feeds even at a reduced price, as there is no market for their cattle because of the foot and mouth outbreak.

Letswee appealed to government to come up with interventions it introduced during the 1987 drought when she bought cattle from farmers to feed school children and the public. According to Letswee government should also give free food rations to the people of Ngamiland.