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Droughts in Southern & Eastern Africa
The countries of southern and eastern Africa have very different climates, but most are
situated in semi-arid regions where annual rainfall varies by 20-30 percent. This
variation can have devastating social and economic consequences. In most of the area,
agricultural production in mainly limited by the availability of soil moisture. Heavy
rains often do not significantly increase soil moisture because the soil does not absorb
moisture quickly, and the rain tends to run off without penetrating into the soil. The
problems are aggravated by the tendency of 2-3 year droughts to occur at fairly regular
intervals.
Evidence for a strong link to El Niņo events and African drought is conflicting. Over the
1875-1975, 27 El Niņo events were linked to 21 years of deficient rainfall in southern
and eastern Africa. The 1982-83 El Niņo was also linked to drought in Africa. More
detailed attempts to link the two phenomena have not been successful.
In southern Africa, agricultural production in Zimbabwe and Mozambique was reduced by the
drought in 1982-83. Although 1982 was a good year for Zimbabwe, there were heavy rains
early in 1983 season, followed by drought. The harvest was down 65 % on 1982. Money was
diverted from development projects into emergency drought relief funds. The south and west
of the country lost livestock as well as crops. Transport and agro-industries were
affected by the drop in production, and water was rationed.
Mozambique's 1982-82 drought was considered the worst in 50 years and led to many deaths.
There was in exodus of refugees to neighboring Zimbabwe, also hard hit by drought.
In Botswana, cattle outnumber the human population by three to one. During 1982-83, key
watering places dried up completely and livestock mortality was high. Almost half the
population was fed by emergency relief from overseas. Normally one child in four in
Botswana is considered at risk from malnutrition, but the figure increased during the
drought to one in three.
During drought years, which often coincide with El Niņo years, the need for emergency
food imports can deplete scarce foreign currency reserves. Climate can then have indirect
effects on development projects as governments cut back on expenditure to compensate for
the foreign exchange loses. Foreign exchange shortages inputs such as fertilizers and
pesticides. This prolongs the effect of the drought year, affecting future crop yields.
However, international market prices can sometimes offset drought related crop losses. In
1984, the main March-May rains failed in many parts of eastern Africa, causing a severe
drop in agricultural production [1984 was not an El Niņo year]. Kenyan tea and coffee
export prices more than doubled as a result of scarcity. This resulted in an increase in
foreign exchange earnings despite the drought.
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