Agrinews December 2012 - Ministry of Agriculture

Why is it that there isdrought in Ngamiland?When we talk ofdrought everyone thinks of lackof rainfall. Indeed there is lowrainfall in Ngamiland but droughtin Ngamiland is different.The area experienced an outbreakof cattle Lung disease (ContagiousBovine Pleuroneumonia)in 1995,and all the cattle were killed inorder to contain the disease andlater the area was re-stocked.While farmers were still recoveringfrom the Cattle Lung disease,there was an outbreak of Foot andMouth Disease (FMD) in 2007. Asa result, the district never sold itscattle to lucrative markets since2007 to date.Ngamiland cattle are vaccinatedthrice yearly for Foot and Mouthdisease as a control measure.However, the situation worsenedin 2007 when buffaloes andelephants destroyed the FMDfence that restrict cattle movement.At the time, majority of vaccinatedcattle, mixed up with unvaccinatedcattle and buffaloes. Since thenFMD became uncontrollable inthe district. It also became evidentthat in search for better pasturesand water farmers moved theircattle from areas with FMD casesto areas without FMD cases. Thisled to the spread of FMD in thedistrict especially in subzone2d, which has the biggest cattlepopulation in the district. Outof 460 000 cattle in Ngamiland(Zone 2) the subzone 2d makeup to 55% of the cattle in the area.The increase of cattle in thissubzone without market andwith some cases of FMD almostyearly, led to both overgrazing andoverstocking. Farmers moved theircattle from crush to crush lookingfor good pastures, this corrodedpalatable pastures. As a result thescourge of drought hit Ngamilandspecifically in Subzone 2d inArticle & Photos: Bautule KealatotseSehitlhwa, Bodibeng, Bothatogo,Toteng, Kareng, Semboyo andMakakong.Farmers in these areas used tograze their cattle in Lake Ngamibefore it was filled to capacity lastyear. Mr. Keletso Selao a farmerat Phathana 2 crush in Sehitlhwaextension area said “the Lake is10km wide and 30km long, hencecovered up the grazing areas,leaving farmers with no area tograze their cattle.” Selao lost over200 cattle due to drought. Anotherdisadvantage of the lake filling tocapacity, according to Selao isthat too many cattle come fromfar areas like Kareng, Semboyoand Makakong, to drink water atthe Lake because most farmers donot have money to buy diesel fortheir boreholes.These cattle end up eating sand,plastics, cloths and anythingthey came across. However, themajority died because whenthey drink water they choke fromwhat they had eaten. Selao saidthe death is immediate. Further,he observed that most farmers inNgamiland find it difficult to takeproper care of their cattle becausethey are no returns for that. Lackof market has demoralized themand left them with no funds to buysupplementary feeds. Selao callsupon other farmers to work handin hand with Veterinary Officersto devise strategies to fight thescourge of FMD and build goodrelations as it was before FMD.At the moment , farmers areopting to rear goats which theybelieve can bring back life in thedistrict compared to cattle.The Principal Scientific Officer1 at the Department of VeterinaryServices (DVS) in Maun, Mr EusticeDrouin NHandura, said indeed there ispersistent drought in Ngamilandespecially along Toteng to Kukeroad in Subzone 2d. Handuracommented that drought is theresult of no vegetation, especiallygrass and shrubs. He concurswith the notion that Lake Ngamiindeed had taken more of thegrazing areas.“Due to poor rains in the districtthe water table went down; whichDecember 2012 2