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Drought is a recurring phenomenon in the arid and semi-arid regions of Southern Africa. In fact, there is 100% certainty that drought conditions will prevail at one time or other – the only uncertainty is when. It is this uncertainty that makes producers believe they cannot plan for a drought. However, it is imperative for producers to be proactive.
Years ago, when there was still a well-run, state-supported drought relief scheme in place, producers could afford not to plan for the effects of drought. Now that they are on their own and global warming is a reality, those without proper plans in place might not survive the next drought financially.
Read this article in Afrikaans.
Climate-smart livestock producers have learned to think differently in order to overcome drought and survive with the least possible impact. Those who do so continue to farm and are even able to expand their farming enterprises.
Read part 4 of this article series here.
A reactive approach
Prof Don H Wilhite, a former professor at the University of Nebraska’s National Drought Mitigating Center, describes people’s natural attitude to drought as an illogical action (Figure 1). He refers to the ‘hydro-illogical behaviour cycle’ following the hydrological or water cycle in nature.
This attitude and actions are explained as follow: At some point, people become aware of a developing drought. If it rains early enough during this period, the awareness disappears and the person typically moves directly to that part of the cycle described as apathy. Everyone is relieved that the drought has not materialised and simply starts to wait for the next scare.
However, if the rain stays away during the awareness phase and starts aggravating feed shortages, people enter the concern phase. Financial pressure increases, roughage on the veld dwindles, the use of licks increases drastically, the condition and performance of animals decline, and pressure on water resources mounts. The media usually catches on to this fact and coverage of the drought increases.
As the drought lingers and intensifies, people enter the panic phase and crisis management becomes the order of the day. Emotions rather than good judgement then tend to drive decisions. The symptoms of drought crisis management include emergency slaughtering amid declining meat prices, above-normal livestock losses (especially young livestock), low conception in animals, roughage shortages and cashflow problems.
In the past, drought subsidies did much to alleviate the panic period. This safety net still exists in most of Southern Africa, but is so poorly administrated by the respective governments that aid either reaches producers too late or not at all.
When the rain finally breaks the drought, people are so focussed on repairing the damage caused by the drought, that the lessons learned are soon forgotten and they re-enter the apathy phase, with everyone hoping and believing they will never again experience another drought.
A proactive approach
The solution to this reactive nature of the hydro-illogical behaviour cycle is to think differently about droughts – being proactive instead of reactive – as shown in the hydro-logical behaviour cycle in Figure 2.
With regard to the hydro-logical cycle, plans are proactively made during years with good rainfall, instead of waiting apathetically for the next drought. A series of long-term strategies, contingency plans and buffers are put in place, which will ensure a better protected farm and less vulnerability once the next drought arrives.
As soon as the next drought appears, instead of crisis management, a systematic switch is made to a series of pre-planned contingency plans (short-term strategies). This takes the emotions out of decisions, and crisis management will be a thing of the past. This type of planning does not make farming enterprises completely resistant to the drought, but it does reduce its impact.
What makes the hydro-logical behaviour cycle successful is the proactive planning during good years. Those aspects needed to mitigate the drought must be in place before it strikes. This way, the scramble to find solutions to alleviate the drought’s impact will be largely avoided.
The weaker the plan to navigate the next drought, the greater its impact will be. Meticulous planning offers significantly more options to better bridge the drought.
Get ready
When preparing for the next drought, farming practices are applied that will help reduce the farm’s vulnerability to the drought, increase drought tolerance, and mitigate its effect – not escape it. Practices that are profitable, which will also ensure the farm is geared for the next drought and has the necessary buffer capacity in place to better survive it, are applied consistently over the long term.
If it does not decrease vulnerability and increase tolerance during this phase, the producer will have limited options available during the drought and the farm’s endurance will come under severe pressure.
Mitigation measures (or buffers) include the following:
- Veld that is in good condition.
- Adapted livestock, production systems and herd composition.
- The construction of a drought fodder bank or an emergency fund to purchase feed.
- A sound financial position when the drought strikes.
- A reliable early-warning system.
Veld that is drought resistant
One of the best insurance policies to hedge against droughts is veld that is in good condition. The better the veld, the higher and more stable the feed produced, the better its quality, the better the drought tolerance and endurance, and the more profitable the farming enterprise.
There are several reasons for this. First, when veld is in poor condition more rainwater runs off into streams and rivers. This results in soil with a lower moisture profile, even if veld in good or poor condition receives the same amount of rain. The better the veld, the more rainwater infiltrates the soil and the higher the soil moisture content.
More topsoil and organic matter will be lost from veld in poor condition due to water and wind erosion. The topsoil of poor veld is also more compacted than that of good veld, which contributes to substandard water infiltration. In addition, poor veld has higher soil temperatures than good veld, with concomitant higher evaporation and therefore a drier soil profile.
Veld in good condition has a denser plant population than poor veld. The plants that dominate in good veld are also more efficient at converting groundwater into feed than those in poor veld. This is due to the plants in poor veld being mostly annual species. These plants’ most important survival mechanism is producing seed. When a drought is present, the plants do not waste energy producing feed, but rather produce seed. The drier it gets, the bigger the difference in the feed produced by good and poor veld. The protein content of plants that dominate in poor veld is also much lower than that of plants that are dominant in good veld.
Finally, the occurrence of artificial drought increases as veld condition deteriorates. An artificial drought is the result of a lack of grazing brought on by the poor condition of the veld, and not due to a lack of rainfall.
Veld in poor condition mainly has three disadvantages: the soil profile has less water, the plants produce less roughage, and the roughage is of substandard quality. In good and average rainy years, the deficit of poor veld is not as obvious. It is only during dry conditions that the difference becomes more noticeable.
To enjoy the protection of good veld during a drought, the better years must be utilised to get the veld in good condition. Veld cannot be improved during a drought as it is simply too dry for any significant change and producers do not necessarily have the finances to do so. – Dr Louis du Pisani, independent agricultural consultant
For more information and a list of references, contact Dr Louis du Pisani on 082773 9778 or Ldupisani@gmail.com.
