Roundup: Proactive approaches urged to deal with Africa droughts, disasters

International humanitarian organizations said on Thursday that countries hit hard by drought should take proactive approaches and build resilience to combat the disaster.

Chris Nikoi, World Food Program (WFP) Director in Southern African region, said the situation could become worse since the lean period is expected to be long.

Two successive failed harvests will make lean period to start early, Nikoi told a press conference in Johannesburg.

He said governments and international organizations should help those affected by drought to cope and be better prepared for similar disasters in the future.

Some countries in southern Africa are hit hard by El Niño-induced drought, the worst in 35 years. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has said about 40 million people will be challenged to meet their food needs between July 2016 to April 2017.

"Some communities are forced to sell their chicken, goats and cattle as a result of drought. This means that in future they won't be able to survive or sell part of their assets to pay fees in order to survive," Nikoi said.

The WFP is currently feeding school children with nutritional foods in most countries in Southern Africa. It also helps communities build drought resilience programmes like boreholes, tanks and gullies to prevent soil erosion.

Nikoi said that while humanitarian assistance is commendable, it should not end there and long-term solutions must be put in place.

He said children are being pulled out of schools because of drought.

This would become a burden on governments and society in future and therefore efforts must be taken to avoid this, he warned.

Nikoi said farmers now do not have inputs, seeds and means to plant in the next season and they should be supported to avoid another failed harvest.

It will be expensive to wait to feed those who would be starving than to intervene now and make sure the farmers are ready to plant and harvest in the next season, he said.

Lewis Hove, a representative for Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), agreed with the WFP. He said there is an urgent need for countries to respond positively and timely to drought or other disasters.

After being hit by drought, farmers have a depleted capacity to handle the situation, Hove said, adding that "we must make sure they have the right seeds, right fertilizer and the right skills."

He said governments should come up with the right policies to assist communities and also ensure that they be implemented.

As African farmers mainly plant maize, the WFP and FAO call for the planting of drought-resistant crops, building small dams and boreholes, and promote water retention techniques like drip irrigation.

Hove added, "There should be collaboration between governments and international organizations to help farmers. As FAO we might provide seeds to farmers to plant so that they prepare for the next harvest, but if they are hungry they will eat those seeds."

Martin Bwalya, head of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), called for the change in mindset and the way things are being done especially in drought-prone areas.

He said this is not the first and last drought and therefore people should be prepared to absorb shocks in future.

"Transformation is urgently required. We need to build a comprehensive and systematic capacity for the future to manage shocks and also be better prepared to handle similar situations in future. We cannot be mending potholes on the sidelines, but we need to do what we have to do and transform how we do it," he said.

He also called for the technical and skills improvement of farmers and implementations of better management strategies.

He said these should be integrated from community to national level.

At the start of the rain season around September or October this year, experts predict that there will be La Niña phenomenon which is characterized by average to above-average rainfall.

Bwalya however warned there could be floods, water logging which might reduce yields. "There could be livestock diseases and pests and we need to be prepared to deal with these negative impacts of La Niña," he said.

The CEO of Agricultural Business Chamber, John Purchase told Xinhua that some countries do not have institutions to do risk assessments, estimates of needs like imports and exports, demand and supply.

He said South Africa, which is better capacitated, should collaborate with other countries in the region to help them develop such institutions so that they can read early warning signs for drought and other disasters.

The experts also called on communities to diversify and have off-the-farm sources of income. Currently most African farmers are subsistence farmers, relying on the farm for their food. Endit