R100m for drought relief
Zibonele Ntuli
14 January 2005
The government has made R100-million available for drought relief in eight provinces to help farmers buy fodder and transportation to save livestock severely affected by the lack of rainfall in various parts of the country.
"The money will be used for boreholes, purchasing of fodder and transportation of the fodder", said Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs spokesperson Steve Galane.
The Eastern Cape has been allocated R8-million, the Free State R17-million, KwaZulu-Natal R18-million, Limpopo R2-million, Mpumalanga R2-million and the Northern Cape R26-million.
North West will receive R18-million and the Western Cape R9-million.
Galane said his department's agro-meteorological committee had been meeting on a regular basis to assess the drought conditions and was issuing monthly advisories to the farmers.
"The department will continue monitoring the drought conditions on the ground", Galane added. "An improvement in
the conditions might occur, should rain fall during the next two to three months.
"The past four years have seen dry conditions prevailing over the country, with rainfall eluding even the so-called wet areas", Galane said. "This has culminated in the current drought over the country.
"Good rains fell over the western half of the country during October last year, followed by dry conditions over that area during November, with a few sporadic falls in the east."
Galane said that while dry conditions continued in the west in December, more rains were recorded in the east, including the southern coastal regions and adjacent interior.
"Despite these rains, the situation has not improved markedly since the spatial distribution of rainfall has been a major problem."
Source: BuaNews
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