A perfect storm of lower rainfall and a growing population beckons for Botswana. But others find climate change is already in the fields and paddocks
The majority of the BMC's throughput starts at natural pastures, before being prepared with feedstock. Tombale is holding out hope for showers to replenish pastures around the country, but he acknowledges this may not be a long-term solution.
BMC has been receiving higher rates of deliveries than usual this year, since the Ministry of Agriculture advised farmers to destock as means of cutting their losses. However, this is a short-lived gain because if the situation persists in the next raining cycle, beef revenues would be badly affected. The BMC is now urging farmers to change their approach from quantity to quality-based cattle production.
President Ian Khama recently urged farmers to adopt more innovative approaches to their work in order to cope with the impacts of climate change. Speaking at the 2015 National Agricultural Show ‘Practicing Smart Agriculture to Combat the Effect of Climate Change', he pointed to Israel, where farmers have harnessed new technologies in order to maintain production in highly water stressed environments.
"This ravaging drought we are currently experiencing is an opportunity to be innovative and resort to new methods and technologies to produce under such conditions. It is for this reason that farming methods such as conservation agriculture are promoted," he said.
Recommendations include using improved crop varieties that are drought tolerant and high yielding, investing in breeds that can withstand the current climate, as well as adoption of proper crop husbandry practices though agricultural infrastructure. Lare Sisay, United Nations Development Programme's deputy resident representative, predicts water shortages will lead to an increase in undesirable types of grass species.
"This has a far-reaching impact on social and economic sectors, and this has not yet been quantified and factored into the country's economic projections," he says. He predicts this could derail Botswana's efforts to break through its middle-income country status.
Parliamentarians - many of whose constituents are rural and peri-urban populations involved in communal farming - are expected to tackle the climate change policy, once it appears in the National Assembly. The policy is due in the November sitting and already momentum is gathering from activists to ensure robust debate and urgent approval.
This story was sourced through the Voices2Paris UNDP storytelling contest on climate change and developed thanks to Jessica Shankleman from @BusinessGreen. It is also part of BusinessGreen's Road to Paris hub, hosted in association with PwC.
