JOHANNESBURG – The department of agriculture in the Western Cape province has disbursed R 8.3 million in drought support to 586 farmers in the central Karoo region this month, it said on Monday.
The agriculture department has provided support to small scale and commercial farmers in the form of vouchers for fodder.
After a veld assessment in October, it made the decision to increase support from once every second month, to monthly in the extremely critical areas including the central Karoo.
Despite drastically reducing their herd sizes, they told me it’s just not enough."
Lukas Botes of Elim farm said he had spent hundreds of thousands of rand on feed in 2017.
While donations of roughage were being made by farmers across the country, recipients were battling to pay the transport costs to get it to the area.
We wouldn’t be here,” Botes said.
Maryke Gouws of Antjieskraal farm said rivers in the area last had water five years ago.
It had been about a year since her sheep had been able to graze in the veld, she said.
The third farmer visited by Schäfer, Chrisjan van der Vyver, said hungry baboons unable to find food were starting to kill his sheep.

As the Colorado River teeters on the brink of shortage, water leaders in Arizona are begging developers to pressure legislators to sign off on a drought plan, while also aiming to reassure those developers that despite a drier future, it’s safe to come to Arizona and build.
Without a drought contingency plan, the federal government will step in and impose cuts far more severe than Arizona would face with one, Arizona leaders expect.
“People are starting to wonder,” she told Phoenix New Times after the event.
The idea that Arizona’s water future is secure, despite drought and shortages, is “the biggest economic message we can have out there,” Lombard said.
At Friday’s meeting, Buschatzke and Cooke tried to strike a balance.
They emphasized that a looming shortage on the Colorado River is dire, and real enough that developers should support the Drought Contingency Plan, but they also explained the plan as helping the state successfully transition to a drier future.
The Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, an entity that is vital to developers by helping them meeting legal requirements to have sufficient groundwater, was in a good position right now, despite the drought on the Colorado River, Cooke said.
The reason the deal is only nearly closed, and not signed, sealed, and delivered, is because it is contingent upon the Drought Contingency Plan getting through the Legislature.
But unlike Buschatzke, Cooke did not beg developers to call their legislators and demand they pass the Drought Contingency Plan.
“There needs to be a good deal of trust.” Governor Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community stepped up, reiterating the message that the Drought Contingency Plan was Arizona’s best bet for a secure water future — and with it, future growth.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (ADV) –Botswana has cautioned its citizens to prepare for worst as the country is on the brink of drought.
This comes after the Botswana Millers Association, Chairperson, Nkosi Mwaba recently indicated that the country was facing a drought and a price hike in maize was looming.
“As of now we are importing our maize from South Africa, United States, Mexico and Argentina,” said Mwaba.
“We need our people to be prepared for any eventuality as we are trying to deal with this situation.
We are subjected to both regional and global market factors as well as the unique price-setting structures in Botswana.” An agricultural research conducted in South Africa suggested that SA as Botswana’s biggest supplier, has estimated that planted hectare in the main maize producer in provinces of North West and Free State were down to an average of 65%.
Botswana consumes 120,000 tonnes of maize meal annually, but local production only amounts to 10,000 tonnes annually.
Previously, Grain SA CEO Jannie de Villiers told media that, “the situation of current crop status planted, late plantings and even no plantings meant farmers in South Africa were in for a very rough ride in 2019.” According to Mwaba, the Botswana Millers Association is in the verge of commercialising maize farming in Botswana, where farmers could gain financially instead of importing from South Africa.
“We have various challenges working against the growth of this sector, but we are confident that we will find a workable system that is practical and sustainable specifically for Botswana,” he said.
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The empty Barwon River Gamilaraay and Yuwalaraay elders who have lived on these rivers all their lives cry when they say they have never seen it as bad as this, and they doubt it can ever be recovered.
What about us people?” Burke says.
The water crisis was made worse last week when the town bore pump failed and there was no running water at all.
“It’s a triple whammy: drought, land clearing and climate change – that means no water.” “When your totem animals are gone – the bandarr [kangaroo], the dhinawan [emu] who are you as a person?” Vanessa Hickey lives on the western side of town near the levee bank, and spent her life on the river.
Vanessa Hickey standing next to the empty Barwon River “When we got water, we’re happy.
We are river people.
As kids we used to dive for mussels and throw them back up the bank to cook and eat.” The river has a responsibility … It’s the bloodline of this country Rhonda Ashby “There were stories about the water dog, Marrayin, the mirri, going down all the way to Menindee.
We know who’s got the water – Cubbie.” “Where is our water?
Gamilaraay elder and cultural educator Brenda McBride standing in the empty Narran River north of Lightning Ridge “It’s so bad.
It makes me sad what’s happening, with irrigation and mismanagement of the water.

JCU’s Associate Professor Susan Laurance has led the Daintree Drought experiment since 2015, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Edinburgh and Imperial College in the UK.
The project involves using plastic sheets to reduce the rainfall getting into a half hectare of rainforest, artificially creating an extended and drier dry season.
The results have recently been published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
One of the species even started to show blockages in their water conducting vessels and we also found thinner leaves in some," she said.
Dr Tng said it showed that mature rainforest trees can modify their anatomy to some degree as an adaptation to drought.
He said it was an important finding, given their place in the environment.
So a forest of trees is very important in maintaining the local climate."
Dr Laurance said it seemed likely tropical rainforests in many part of the world would be facing more frequent or more severe droughts due to climate change.
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Water and Sanitation CS Simon Chelughi on Monday issued a drought warning that is set to affect the entire country.
Chelughi stated that the expected dry spell would go all the way to April and cautioned Kenyans to use water properly.
The water CS further explained that the government had plans in place to deal with the natural phenomenon as reported by a local daily.
“Considering that drought and floods are natural phenomena, we are already putting in place measures, in liason with other government agencies and stakeholders to mitigate its effects,” remarked Chelughi.
Speaking during the water and sanitation county executive committee caucus conference in Nyahururu, Laikipia County last week, the CS noted that the national and water coverage stood at 60 percent while sanitation was at 35 percent.
Increase in number of counties facing drought This comes after the National Drought Management Authority on Friday pointed out that thousands of Kenyans were facing starvation.
The body revealed that at least 23 counties were facing drought weeks after the end of the short rains.
Further analysis had showed that the condition of food security had been deteriorating since November last year, when a drought alert was issued to only three counties.
The counties experiencing the conditions were, Kitui, Turkana, Marsabit, Samburu and Tana River.

EARLY in 2018, local musician Brett Kelly and Cherry Bright, now-past president of the Majestic Theatre in Pomona came up with a bright idea to hold tribute nights to raise money for well-meaning charities.
"The idea was to ask local musicians to give their time and talents to perform for no pay and the ticket sales go to the local charities,” Ms Bright said.
"There have been two shows so far and both sold out shows.
"The musicians and the public seem to love these and they know the money is going to a great cause.” The first show in March was a Bob Dylan tribute and there were about 20 local musicians come together and sing their favourite rendition of Dylan to raise money for a Cambodian family who had their house burnt down.
"Part of the fundraising also helped a 12-year-old girl who’s mother died and also some funds towards one of our local music legends who was having major surgery and wasn’t able to work for several months,” Ms Bright said.
"It raised $1900 for the struggling farmers.
The money was given to Drought Angels.
The next show, to be held across April 6 and 7 will be a Beatles tribute.
"The charity hasn’t been disclosed yet.
Because of the popularity, it will be held over two days.” Drought Angels representative Monique Mahoney said the $1900 "would help one farming family immensely”.

Water Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui has warned Kenyans to brace themselves for a biting drought until April.
Mr Chelugui said the government has set aside Sh10 billion to expand water, sanitation and sewerage coverage in in 28 major towns.
It is working with Africa Development Bank.
“Considering that drought and floods are natural phenomena, we are already putting in place measures in liaison with other government agencies and stakeholders to mitigate its effects,” he said.
Some 2.1 million people will get water while another 1.3 million will receive sewerage services.
Mr Chelugui was speaking during a water and sanitation county executive committee caucus in Nyahururu, Laikipia County, between January 16 and 18.
He said the national water coverage is 60 percent while basic sanitation stands at 35 percent.
To achieve universal water coverage by 2030, the sector needs to connect 200,000 Kenyans to potable water and 350,000 to sewerage systems yearly.
He said the government has embarked on implementation of projects such as Itare dam in Nakuru, which will provide 100,000 cubic metres of water while Mombasa residents would receive 186,000 cubic metres per day once Mwache dam is completed.
Mr Chelugui said Makueni, Konza city and Nairobi residents will benefit from additional water supplies once the construction of Thwake dam and Northern Collector Tunnel are completed.

Though the district administration has already announced that the district suffered nearly 50% crop loss owing to drought, more evidence has emerged confirming this.
This year, around 25,000 toor farmers could not register at toor procurement centres, for their crop did not yield anything because of the drought.
According to officials, on the last date (Saturday) for registration, as many as 58,906 farmers were registered for selling their produce.
Last year, over 83,000 farmers registered.
According to officials, even the queues at the registration counters were short when compared to last year.
With the registration now over, officials are waiting for the government order to start procuring toor.
They are hoping to do so within a week.
Cattle trouble The situation is no better for the farmers who are selling off their cattle.
The annual cattle fair being organised on account of Siddeshwara Jatra has witnessed limited selling this year because of drought.
Though hundreds of farmers had come to sell to their cattle, a majority either took back their cattle on not getting a good price or sold them at low rates.

Lubango – Studies of the food Resilience and Nutrition Security Programme in Angola (FRESAN) conducted in 2018 indicate that over 1.1 million Angolans living in the southern provinces of Huíla, Namibe and Cunene are affected by drought as a result of the climate change phenomenon.
Such number represents 12 percent of the rural population of Huíla, 99 percent of Namibe and 97 percent of the inhabitants in the rural areas of Cunene.
Data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) indicate that the province of Huíla is inhabited by just over 2.7 million people, while Namibe has 471,613 inhabitants and Cunene about 1.023 million.
According to the coordinator of FRESAN, Matteo Tonini, who spoke during a meeting with civil society organizations, climate change has negatively affected the livelihoods of the rural population in the country, significantly increasing vulnerability levels.
Matteo Tonini said that the drought has contributed to the reduction of food production and income of affected families and have made access to food difficult and, therefore, aggravating the nutritional status and prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children under five years of age.
"The situation is particularly worrying if we take into account climate models for the coming years, which provide for seasonal changes in the precipitation regime, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, expansion of arid and semi-arid regions and an increase in air temperature and of the sea, "he said.
In 2018, FRESAN signed a financing agreement with the European Commission, through the Camões Institute, to mitigate the drought among the populations affected by the food crisis, with a value of 65 million euros.
The funding will help to define the strategy for subvention by gathering information and opinions on the best models to be developed.
Meanwhile, the director of the provincial department of agriculture, fisheries and forest development, Mariana Soma, considered that the project in question is on the right track to address the difficulties that are visible in agro-pastoral communities, mainly due to climate changes.
She noted that the subsidies and support of the FRESAN project will be monitored by civil society organizations and includes the ways in which funding will take place, in order to implement the project in the context of resilience in the various municipalities.