COPING WITH DROUGHT

Drought is a word that invokes strong emotions, principal among which are fear and panic. This is not surprising as the phenomenon is usually accompanied by a number of unpleasant developments such as famine, massive population movement, misery and, in extreme cases, death. These developments have implications for all Africans, starting from the peasant farmers, who stand to be transformed from subsistence agricultural producers into resourcesless consumers,to the state and federal governments which may be plunged into emergency and crisis situations which, if not successfully managed, could result in social unrest.
Since large areas of the country are drought prone, the consequences of these inevitable dry spells could be very severe. Because the effects of drought usually linger on, the impact of a drought on national development would be felt for years. One has to do with emergency measures and the other with routine measures. The emergency measures will involve mechanism designed to manage the immediate consequences of the drought when it occurs. An immediate consequences of any drought would be famine. In addition where whole population are forced to abandon their lands or pastures in search of food, there are bound to be other lasting and parallel consequences such as distress, sale of cattle by livestock owners in order to buy food, and abandonment of farming tools, and other farm equipment. Even if they do not move, farmers who are in distress are likely to consume the seed they should have set aside for the next sowing and sell their valuables in order to purchase consumption goods.
But the fact is that these emergency measures will be much more effective if a mechanism is also established to ensure adequate preparedness and defense against the occurrence of drought. The government should, therefore, be able to handle routine matters concerning preparation and defense against the occurrence of drought. In this regard, there should be a checklist of action plans against drought outcomes drawn up in advance and a permanent national drought relief fund for use whenever a drought occurs. In addition, measures should be taken to establish and maintain staple food stocks against emergencies. Similarly, emergency stocks of seed and farm tools would need to be organized for each of the zones.

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