How Drought is Killing the African Agricultural Sector
Drought is one of the most devastating natural disasters affecting food production, water resources and causing widespread human and animal mortalities in Africa.
Sub-saharan Africa is considered the most vulnerable region to climate change due to low rainfall, long dry seasons, and high levels of poverty.
A drought is an event of prolonged shortage in water supply, whether atmospheric, surface water, or groundwater. A drought may last for months or years and can be declared after as few as 15 days.
Water shortages are a major threat globally but their impact is more severe in Africa and sub-Saharan Africa in particular. A past Southern African Development Community (SADC) report stated that by mid-2017 four countries would have to declare national drought disasters, namely: the kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Malawi, the kingdom of Swaziland, and the Republic of Zimbabwe. Countries in Southern Africa such as the Republic of Mozambique, South Africa had to declare partial drought emergencies too.
The three months from October to December 2015 were the driest months on record in the past 35 years, while December 2015 was one of the hottest months experienced in recent times. Across the region, food shortages and cholera outbreaks were rampant due to the lack of potable water.
Impact of Drought on African Communities
Drought remains one of the most important natural disasters in economic, social, and environmental terms in Southern Africa. A report by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) stated that drought was considered by many to be the most complex and least-understood of all-natural hazards, affecting more people than any other hazard.
The most severe consequence of drought is famine. Drought influences water availability, which is projected to be one of the greatest constraints to economic growth in the future.
The impact of drought in Africa can be classified into primary and secondary.
The primary impact is one that is directly caused by the disaster while the secondary impact refers to effects that occur in the hours, days and weeks after the initial drought.
The primary impacts of drought in Southern Africa include:
- Disrupted distribution of water resources
- Increased quest for water
- Marginal lands become unsustainable
- Reduced grazing quality and crop yields
- Employment lay-offs
- Increased Food insecurity
- Inequitable drought relief
- Increased urbanization
The Secondary impacts can be grouped into Social, Environmental and Economic impacts.
The social impacts include migration, resettlement, conflicts between water users, poverty, unemployment, reduced income, malnutrition, famine, and social pressure.
The environmental impacts include: loss of biodiversity, reduced income and food shortages, plant scorching, increased fire hazard, lack of water for feeding and drinking, and waterborne diseases.
The economic impacts are increased prices for farming commodities, drastic price increase, expensive imports/substitutes, increased transport costs and increased costs.
In the 1991/92 agricultural season, Zimbabwe experienced the worst drought in living memory, with a complete failure of crops and devastation of livestock that turned many areas into semi-desserts. The effect of drought in Zimbabwe went beyond the agricultural sector, through water and electricity shortages, manufacturing output in Zimbabwe reduced by 9.3% with a 25% reduction in the volume of manufacturing output and a 6% decline in foreign currency receipts.
Mozambique regularly experiences both extremes of rainfall variability with periods of severe rainfall that often lead to severe flooding and cyclones.
In Nigeria, reduced annual average rainfall and its run-off would increase desertification.
In Northern Nigeria, there are several records of drought occurrences that resulted in famines, such as the droughts of 1903 and 1911–1914. Other droughts occurred in 1919, 1924, 1935, 1951–1954, 1972–1973, 1984–1985, 2007, and 2011.
Agricultural production in Nigeria is mainly rain-fed and naturally prone to vagaries of rainfall variability (Tiamiyu et al. 2015)
During the years of abundant rainfall, households in the region experience bumper harvest from both crop and livestock productions. However, during the years with little rainfall, the households experience crop failure or poor crop yield, leading to famine, hunger, and death of humans and livestock.
Drought in East Africa
East Africa also known as the “horn of Africa ‘’ has been the worst hit by the impact of Drought in the African region. Across Ethiopia, Somalia, and the autonomous region of Somaliland, 10.7 million people are facing severe hunger as a result of drought.
In East Africa, several families have had to change location numerous times with their children and livestock in search of food and water.
Droughts are not new in East Africa but with climate change, the condition continues to worsen and intensify. For years now, the region has been hit with very low rainfall coupled with high temperatures, which have exhausted people’s ability to cope with drier conditions and scarce and unpredictable rainfall.
Nomadic pastoralists are among the hardest hit by the drought, leaving an exceptional number of people without most or all of their livestock.
In Eastern Somaliland, communities continue to go from place to place in a desperate search for food and water.
Conclusion
The effects and impact of drought continue to pose a huge threat to the growth of the African agricultural sector and there is a need for assistance and intervention to avoid desertification in the region.
First, the international community must act to prevent a full-blown disaster. Secondly, in Africa, we need to search inwardly for long-term solutions to be able to adapt to the changing climate.
Developed countries that have a historic responsibility for climate change need to increase their support for adaptation in this region.