Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi has declared the 2023-2024 season an extreme agricultural drought year, according to a government statement, Xinhua reports. The declaration was made after considering a report on the recently ended Drought and Household Food Security Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis, said the statement issued Thursday. ALSO READ: Building resilience against drought one tree at a time It said that the rainy season from October 2023 to March 2024 was exceptionally dry, with below-average rainfall throughout the entire country. The month of February was particularly harsh, with the country experiencing the driest conditions since 1980, leading to critically low water levels in reservoirs, and major rivers such as Thamalakane and Chobe are experiencing their lowest water levels in a decade, the statement said. The delayed rains and extended dry spells have severely impacted crops, with most wilting and failing early. ALSO READ: Rwanda expresses solidarity with Zimbabwe over devastating El Nino drought The area planted for this season fell 36 percent compared to the previous year, and total output is expected to meet only 6 percent of the country's need of 300,000 metric tons, the statement said. At the time of assessment, grazing conditions had started to show signs of deterioration across the country, with limited surface water availability in some areas. An estimated 16,000 heads of livestock died as a result of drought, said Gaba Gabriella Mogapi, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. Dry conditions and high temperatures have forced wild animals to travel long distances for water, resulting in human-wildlife conflict. More than 1,170 fires have also been reported around the country, affecting about 855,861 hectares of land, she added. The government has implemented measures to help people cope with drought, such as subsidies to farmers and making boreholes available to communities facing severe water shortages.
