Govt declares disaster, announces relief measures

President Festus Mogae has declared a state of disaster in drought-hit Botswana and announced a national relief programme to assist children and the poor. The declaration follows a disastrous harvest, in which farmers produced only 19,000 mt of cereals - 10 percent of the annual grain requirement. A recent report by the Ministry of Agriculture showed the nutritional status of children aged under five had worsened in three districts in the north of the country. Mogae said in a statement that widespread crop failures threatened to reverse the gains perennially arid Botswana had made through successive nutritional development programmes. "I am left with no choice but to declare all of Botswana drought-stricken," he announced. He said the country would immediately embark on a public works programme aimed at the unemployed to provide a source of income to help defray food costs. Presidential press secretary Jeff Ramsay told IRIN the public works programme would be added to existing drought relief operations across the country, which have had limited impact. "Public works programmes will focus on improving schools and clinics. The government will also focus on improving rural sanitation, particularly the availability of protected water sources. "The works component will also emphasise strengthening community policing through the employment of more local police constables to look after essential community and state property; additional police constables will be employed to monitor essential infrastructure, like cattle barriers for the control of animal diseases," said Ramsay. Supplementary feeding schemes for children aged under five, based in schools and clinics, would be introduced. Children living in particularly vulnerable areas would be given up to two meals a day. To help farmers improve production next season, the government is to provide free seed packs with enough for five hectares per farmer; cattle farmers will also benefit from a 25 percent cut in the price of selected stock feeds. Like the majority of countries in southern Africa, Botswana has been hit by successive droughts, resulting in widespread crop failure. Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe are also facing critical food shortages.