Drought -- National Drought Mitigation Center
Date of this Version
October 1995
Abstract
Drought policy in the Republic of South Africa has been extensively reviewed in Drought Network News (Bruwer, 1989; Bruwer, 1990a; Bruwer, 1990b). The protection of natural resources against deterioration (natural vegetation = veld) and the protection of rural communities and infrastructure against disruption of agricultural and socioeconomic development have always been major thrusts behind drought relief subsidies.
Since 1980, two important provisos for drought relief payments to stock farmers have been implemented: (1) a drought must assume disaster proportions (Bruwer, 1990b) and (2) stock numbers must not exceed the official carrying capacity (Department of Agricultural Development, 1992).
The pressure on politicians and policy makers to provide additional aid at times of drought—that is, to go beyond previously agreed-on limits—is immense (Smith et al., 1992). This is especially true for the arid zone of South Africa, as was classically illustrated by Bruwer (1990b). Between 1956 and 1985, the greater part of this zone has been declared drought-stricken for more than 50% of the time, compared to the intrinsic occurrence of disaster droughts of less than 30%. This prompted the establishment of the Drought Monitoring and Information Centre (DMIC) at the Grootfontein Agricultural Development Institute in 1992. This center was commissioned to develop scientifically sound drought assessment, detection, monitoring, and management systems for the arid zone.
Comments
Published in Drought Network News October 1995. Published by the International Drought Information Center and the National Drought Mitigation Center, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska – Lincoln.