Livestock like cattle and goats, and even elephants, are dying daily in Botswana, the heat is ever more intense than before and beef exports, which have been declining for the past 35 years, are drying up. This drought threatens the culture, tradition and employment rate of Botswana.

“It is the worst drought ever, there is nothing to graze and I am feeding my animals,” says Wimpie Biemond, farmer and member of the Tuli Block Farmers Association. He lives in Tuli Block South on Basinghall farm and farms with game, cattle, and dryland peanuts. In May this year, President Mokgweetsi Masisi officially declared Botswana to be in state of drought after months of unevenly distributed rains, heat waves and dry spells.

According to an agricultural census released by Statistics Botswana last year, the country’s estimated cattle population has fallen from 2,5 million in 2011 to 1,7 million in 2015. The number of households husbanding cattle has also plunged from about 75 500 in 2004 to 39 000 in 2015, a decline of more than 45 percent. But livestock still accounts for 80 percent of this Southern African country’s agricultural earnings, and Boikhutso Rabasha, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture, said she worries about the country’s continuing ability to produce enough beef.

Wimpie adds that the drought has been severe for the past two seasons. “The western and central parts are the worst.”

Wimpie warns other farmers not to fall in the trap of debt if they struggle to survive through the drought. He also adds: “The government does not help owners of private land. We have to help ourselves.”

Southern Africa has been hard hit by extreme weather conditions:

Not only Botswana, but also Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia are suffering. Zambia is in the throes of a drought which has affected the 2018/19 farming season. Around 2,5 million people are facing food shortages, according to official figures.

In Zimbabwe, nearly a third of the population of 16 million depend on aid and at least half of these face acute hunger, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Some parts of Namibia did not have sufficient rain for the past seven years.

More on Botswana’s drought:

“Prolonged and crippling drought is threatening to wipe out over 38 000 heads of livestock,” said Thato Raphaka, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Wildlife.

Raphaka said the surface water of Lake Ngami, situated some 1 000 kilometres northwest of Gaborone, has been drying up slowly but surely, thereby creating sticky, miry clay.

According to Raphaka, cattle and other livestock are being trapped by the mire. “Only the livestock is trapped in the muddy waters; not the wildlife,” the acting Director of Wildlife and National Parks, Moeti Batshabang, said.

He said the farmers have to walk long distances, hoping to take their animals to better places where they can find something to eat. Rural households have been especially hit, and are looking to the government for help.

Sharon Tshipa writes on the Thomson Reuters Foundation about farmer Shanki Mokweba, who does not want to give up his animals.

“I used to have 20 head of cattle, but most have died. As of last year, I am only left with four,” said Shanki, who has raised cattle for four decades in southeast Botswana. He lives on the outskirts of Molepolole, a village northwest of Gaborone.

These remaining four now have calves, after some rains last year, but the renewed drought this year has him worried he could lose more animals, he said. “I will not stop rearing cattle. Not ever,” says Shanki. In a country where cattle have long been a rural stash of savings, the diminished herds affect how families like Shanki’s feed their children, buy school uniforms, pay for their households, and bury the dead.

Elephants also suffer because of the drought:

Botswana’s environment ministry said it has recorded a spike in the number of elephant deaths since May in Botswana’s Chobe National Park.

“More than one hundred elephants are estimated to have died naturally in the past two months,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that 13 deaths were recorded just this week.

In neighbouring Zimbabwe, it’s wildlife agency has recorded at least 55 elephant deaths over the past month due to lack of food and water. Preliminary investigations in Botswana have also suggested some of the elephants may have died from anthrax.

“Due to the severe drought, elephants end up ingesting soil while grazing and get exposed to the anthrax bacteria, an infectious disease found naturally in soil, spore,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The animals are also travelling long distances in search of food which leaves some highly emaciated, ending in death.”

The environment ministry said it would be burning “anthrax related carcasses” to prevent the disease from spreading to other animals. It warned the public not to touch any animal carcasses they might find and report them to the authorities.

Growing lablab: A cure for the drought

Mophato Gabanakgotla, who lost 22 of his 35 cattle to drought, mostly in 2016, and saw another 9 stolen, hopes to begin growing lablab, a sturdy legume also known as hyacinth bean that works well as cattle fodder. The plant has been grown successfully in the north of the country, helping farmers to cope with poor grazing and avoid paying high prices for scarce animal fodder.

“I have 21 hectares of farmland that is not producing any crops due to limited rains and excessive heat. I want to fence it and grow lablab to feed my cattle and then sell excess to others,” Mr Gabanakgotla said.

Stephen Pillar, Vice-Chairman of the Totume Farmers’ Association, has been growing the legume for 14 years and said it can produce a crop even in the bad years, though it produces much more in good ones. “I started growing lablab because I wanted to save my cattle from droughts. When I realised that it performed way better than my maize and sorghum crops with normal to below normal rains, I began growing it commercially on 70 hectares,” he said.

For farming to stay a way of life and survival in Botswana, urgent plans and even more urgent rains are necessary.