Symposium on Drought in Africa

IDRC-MR119e SYMPOSIUM ON DROUGHT IN AFRICA Proceedings and Summary Report of a Symposium held in Ottawa, Canada on 12 - 14 August 1985 Compiled by Vivien J. Escott Sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). Material contained in this report is produced as submitted and has not been subjected to peer review or rigorous editing by IDRC Communications Division staff. Mention of proprietary names does not constitute endorsement of the product and is given only for information. CONTENTS Page ft>. INTRODOCTION AND OVERVIEW - Joseph H. Hulse 1 REC<J4MENDA TI ONS 5 PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE SYMPOSILM Pattern and Impact of Drought in the Sahel Countries - E.S. Ayensu 11 Pattern and Impact of Drought in East Africa - F.J. Wang'ati 19 Pattern and Impact of Drouqht in the SA DCC Countries - R.M. Mupawose 27 Pattern and Impact of Drouqht in the Sudan - M. D. El-Khalifa, 37 S.A. Awadella, and M.O. El Sammani Impact of Drouqht in Western Canada - R.C. McGinnis and D. Kraft 51 Drought-Tolerant Crops: their Nature and Value in Drouqht Situations 59 - H. Doqqett Animal Production in Drought-Prone Areas - M.L. Mokane 69 Relationships between Drought, Infections, and Infestations 74 in African Animals - L. Karstad Land and Resource Management in Southern Africa - M. Blackie 82 Provision of Water for Drinking and Sanitation in Semi-Arid Rural Areas 95 - D. Sharp Drought in Africa: Action with Respect to Climate (WMO) - F.K. Hare 104 Emergency Food Aid and the Rehabilitation of Agriculture 113 in Africa (FAQ) - J.H. Monyo Statement on Behalf of the World Food Proqramme (WFP) - A. Nqongi 131 Presentation by the International Fund for Agriculture 140 and Development (!FAD) - M.C. Mensah Sl.MMARY OF DISCUSSIONS 155 APPENDIX 1 List of Participants 170 APPENDIX 2 Agenda 174 APPENDIX 3 Additional Conments 177 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Joseph H. Hulse Vice-President, Research Programs IDRC PURPOSE OF THE l'EETING The extreme and extensive suffering inflicted upon millions of rural African people as a consequence of the recent pervasive drought is familiar to most North Americans and Europeans whose communications media have vividly portrayed the appallinq conditions in Ethiopia, the Sahel, and many other countries of Northern, Eastern, and Southern Africa. The demonstrations of humanitarian concern, and contributions of food and money to relieve the distress have indeed been encouraging to all directly engaged in international programs of economic and social development, technical assistance, and emerqency relief. Most of the consequences of the widespread drought have been described as seen through the eyes of North American .iournalists and commentators. The sponsors and conveners of the symposium, whose proceedings are described below, believed that it was time that the voice of Africans be heard since it is they, their families, and friends who have suffered most and who, in the short and long term, must repair the damaqe brought about by the ravages of drought and make preparations as are necessary to prevent any comparable recurrence in the future. For this reason, from August 12 to 14 1985, an international symposium was held in Ottawa on 11 Drouqht in Africa. 11 It was jointly sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the International Council of Scientific Unions (!CSU). The purpose was to review drought in Africa through the eyes and experience of Africans, together with others who have spent many years workinq in Africa. The invited speakers and other participants reviewed the difficulties experienced and the opportunities for improvement and future beneficial development among those African countries whose fragile ecologies and economies have been so severely devastated. Various contributors reviewed the impact of repeated drought on countries in Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa and the Middle East, particularly the Nile Valley. They reached a clear and unequivocal consensus, based upon historical record, that the recent highly-publicized droughts are by no means unique or isolated phenomena but are a further manifestation of what has occurred in the same African regions over many hundreds of years. It was also made clear that the drouqhts have served to aggravate existing adverse conditions resulting from a variety of unimaginative and often counter-productive policies by both African qovernments and donor agencies, as well as from demographic patterns, accelerated population growth, political unrest, and social turmoil, the latter well-illustrated by the fact that more than 70 coups d'etat have occurred in African countries during the last two decades. Speakers repeatedly emphasized that to prevent future disasters of a comparable scale calls for lonq-term commitments by all the governments of those African countries affected, toqether with the world community of development and donor agencies: multilateral, bilateral, qovernmental, and nonqovernmental. - 2 - Althouqh long periods of inadequate rainfall are familiar to the arid and semi-arid reqions of Africa, the drouqhts of the past two decades have been more devastating in their intensity, extent, and persistence than any previously recorded. Never before have African nations been confronted with such conditions at a time when populations and expectations were rising; when political states newly liberated from colonial rule were attemptinq to establish essential and reliable governmental, institutional, economic, and social structures; when a world-wide recession was acceleratinq; when the price of imported petroleum was escalatinq and world prices offered for African exportable commodities were in decline. The coincidence of the drouqht toqether with all of these other adversities has been tragic indeed. SEVERITY OF THE DROUGHT The drouqht struck in the Southern African reqion with unusual intensity between 1981 and 1984: two-thirds of the reqion received less than 60 percent of normal rainfall and aggregated cereal production fell by 41 percent. In the Sahelian countries the degree of variability of rainfall was far qreater even than that generally experienced in this area of unpredictable climate. More than half of the 20 million inhabitants of the Sudan have been directly affected, with some 8.5 million people requirinq food aid during 1984. Kenya's 1984 harvest was more than 40 percent below normal. In the Southern African countries, during 1984, direct costs resulting from the drought amounted to more than US$920 million: $576 million in direct losses to aqricultural production and $345 million for emergency relief operations. Among the Sahelian countries the increased incidence of malnutrition and associated health problems from 1981 to 1984 was estimated at close to 31 percent. Altogether, amonq the 24 African countries affected, more than 150 million people are presently exposed to hunger and malnutrition and 20 million face possible starvation. Amonq many, particularly the younq children, malnutrition may well have irreversibly affected their mental and physical capacities, depriving them of the riqht to a normal, healthy life. The temporary camp settlements established for the feeding of starving migrants have served to increase the transmission of communicable diseases, and cholera is now reported to be a matter for serious concern in some areas. Furthermore, water resources in these camps have been seriously strained and the social disruption caused by mass migrations has been of catastrophic proportions. Animals are immensely important in African aqricultural economies, beinq integral components of most farming systems. In the most severely affected reqions of the Sahel and Northern Africa, more than 90 percent of the cattle and 30 percent of the sheep and goats are estimated to have died. Throuqhout the region as a whole, cattle mortality from small herds increased from 32 percent to 54 percent between 1980 and 1983. Even nomadic populations, moving throuqh whatever pastureland could be found, are believed to have lost over 30 percent of their cattle, sheep, and qoats in 1984. - 3 - EXACERBATION OF AN ALREADY SERIOUS SITUATION The drouqht seriously agqravated existing patterns of environmental and economic stress. As already stated, the economic stress was made more severe by the risinq costs of food imports (necessitated by inadequate aqricultural productivity), falling world prices for export commodities, increasing prices for petroleum products tied to an escalating U.S. dollar, qovernment fiscal and development policies favouring urban consumers over rural communities, rising balance-of-payment deficits, and hiqher debt-servicing costs, resulting in serious declines in foreiqn exchanqe reserves. This combination of adverse domestic and international factors has increased accumulated external debts of the countries south of the Sahara from US$5.4 billion in 1970 to US$48 billion in 1982, an average yearly increase of 20 percent. Debt-service payments have increased from US$450 million to US$5.5 billion over the same period and could well double again by 1987. Most of these debilitating factors have been outside the control of the qovernments and peoples of the African countries affected. Other more controllable factors have not been adequately addressed. An indisposition among some African governments to offer adequate incentives to smallholder

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