Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
intensifies, they seek relief from kin and subsequently
begin to dispose of assets. Further steps include
borrowing of money or grain and, if all else fails, either
selling out or emigrating from the drought-afflicted
region. With outward migration, governments notice
the drought and begin organizing food relief. After the
drought, the farm household has few resources left to
re-establish pre-existing lifestyles. Rich households in
the city have the resources (the farmer's sold assets) to
withstand poor harvests. The natural hazard of drought
now affects exclusively the Hausan farmer. In this
process, society has become differentiated such that
the wealthy beneficially control their response to
drought, while the Hausan farmer becomes largely
powerless and subjected to the worst effects of a
drought disaster. This sequence of events now charac-
terizes drought response throughout Africa and other
Third World countries, even though colonialism has
disappeared. Dependency upon cash cropping, export
commodity prices or the vagaries of war have repeat-
edly brought large segments of various societies to
crisis point during the major droughts that have
occurred towards the end of the twentieth century.
ering and maximum growth before high water-stress
conditions in summer. In addition, application of
phosphate fertilizers can double crop yield for each
millimetre of rainfall received. Where land is used for
grazing, some pasture is set aside in spring so that hay
can be cut to use as feed over a dry summer period. In
mixed farming areas, grain must also be held over from
the previous year's harvest to supplement sheep and
cattle feed. When a drought persists for several years,
stock are either dramatically culled or breeding stock
are shipped considerable distances and grazed at a cost
(agistment) in drought-free areas.
Technological advances also play a key role in
farming drought-prone, semi-arid areas. These tech-
niques include aerial spraying of herbicides to control
weed growth, and aerial sowing of seed to prevent
soil compaction by heavy farm machinery. Aerial
monitoring is used to track livestock and give early
warning of areas that are threatened by overgrazing.
Computer management models are also utilized to
maximize crop yields, given existing or forecast
climate, moisture, and crop conditions. Finally, effi-
cient financial management becomes crucial as much
in drought survival as in recovery. Most farmers aim for
three profitable years per decade and must be able to
sustain the economic viability of the farm for up
to seven consecutive drought years. Such a mode
of operation requires either cash reserves or a line of
credit with a bank to permit breeding stock to be
carried for this period of time. Until the rural crisis of
the 1980s, fewer than 15 per cent of farmers in
Australia entered financial difficulty following a major
drought.
The above management practices set the westernized
farmers apart from those in nomadic and under-
developed countries. Consequently, the Australian
farmer can survive droughts as severe as those that have
wracked the Sahel region of Africa in recent years.
However, the Australian farm does not have to support
the large number of people that units in Africa do. As a
result, drought-induced famine in Africa can detrimen-
tally disturb the entire social and economic fabric of a
country, whereas in Australia or the United States, much
of the population may be unaware that a major drought
is occurring. In the 1970s and 1980s, the intensity of
drought worldwide not only crippled many African
countries but, for the first time since the depression
years of the 1930s, it also perturbed many westernized
societies.
POST-COLONIAL RESPONSE
(Garcia, 1972; French, 1983)
In contrast, westernized societies rely heavily upon
technology to survive a drought. This is exemplified in
Australia where individual farmers - who withstand the
worst droughts - have developed one of the most
efficient extensive agricultural systems in the world.
Self-reliance is emphasized over kin or community ties,
and it is efficiency in land management that ultimately
determines a farmer's ability to survive a drought. As a
drought takes hold, these management practices are
subtly altered to maximize return and minimize
permanent damage to the land and to the farming unit.
Where land is cultivated, land management practices
are directed towards moisture conservation and crop
protection. Practices promoting the penetration of
rain into the subsoil include mulching, tillage, and
construction of contour banks and furrows that
minimize runoff. In certain cases, catchments will be
cleared and compacted to increase runoff into farm
dams that can be used for irrigation during drought.
Because most crops mature at times of highest
moisture stress, the time of sowing is crucial to the final
crop yield. Early sowing in winter ensures grain flow-
