Coping mechanisms wear thin as the drought drags on

Traditional coping mechanisms are nearing exhaustion in Mozambique as drought-affected communities struggle with dwindling food production and the impact of HIV/AIDS on the agricultural labour force. Preliminary figures estimate that more than 230,000 households in the southern and central regions of the country will face food shortages this season. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has pointed out that although the situation was cause for concern, the areas most affected were considered drought-prone, and therefore reports of food shortages are not "extraordinary". "We can't say that they [drought-affected communities] are unprepared. The population has traditionally developed alternative coping mechanisms, including shifting from cereal production to livestock, using forestry resources for charcoal production and, in the arid southern provinces, migrating to South Africa to work in the mines," FAO country representative, Peter Vandor, told IRIN. Vandor warned that in recent years, economic hardships combined with rising HIV infection rates had dealt a serious blow to traditional coping mechanisms. "Now we have a new situation: there are fewer jobs in South Africa and the mineworkers are returning [home], but the industry in Mozambique is not as developed," he added. More than 1.3 million Mozambicans out of a population of 18 million are living with HIV/AIDS. FAO has predicted that by 2020 the country will have lost over 20 percent of its agricultural labour force to the disease. Although the government has encouraged food-insecure communities to plant drought-resistant crops, such as sorghum and cassava, these attempts have not always succeeded because of the national preference for maize. In 2002 the government began a drought-mitigation programme that included building small dams for drought-affected populations. Vandor noted that the agricultural input trade fairs, where rural households were given a voucher for 200,000 Meticais (a little less than US $10) with which they could purchase a variety of seeds at subsidised prices, was a particularly successful FAO initiative. "We have small interventions which are doing some good, but we have some very serious challenges here - we need to see how we can change the whole farming system," Vandor said. "The government is encouraging investment in agriculture, but we don't yet have a very favourable environment for private investment - we don't have civil society organisations for agriculture, like they do in South Africa, for example, where there are associations for wine growers and a separate one for tropical fruit," he commented. Vandor welcomed an announcement in the press this week that the government was looking into ways of simplifying the registration of agriculture, livestock and trade associations.