Lake Ngami Pastoral Farmers in Botswana Stricken by Climate Change
Written by Solomon Tjinyeka
As Botswana continues to experience the irregular weather patterns, Lake Ngami farmers in the Northern side have been urged to rely more on ground water, to mitigate against drought when the land dries. For many years, pastoral farmers around the lake have been herding their livestock in the drylands and watering them using boreholes but this trend has changed since the rebirth of endorheic lake in northern Botswana in 2012, as they now depend on water from the lake and some has neglected their boreholes.
Just like other farmers around the country, Kazehepa Ndjarakana, a farmer at Thololamoro cattle post, had to pull carcasses of his dead cows from dried riverbed after desperate animals perished seeking water at the height of 2019 hydrological drought that patched Botswana’s Lake Ngami area. Ndjarakana also says he is a victim of the 2019 drought as he lost most of his animals such as cows, donkeys and goats competing for the same water around the lake. He has lost more than 25 cattle and 10 horses.
He admits that over-reliance of Lake Ngami by farmers affects most livestock during the dry season. The community has historically relied on the ground water drilling boreholes around Lake Ngami, but this changed when the lake started to flood in 2012 after it had dried for more than 20 years since 1984. Ndjarakana stated that the water had damaged some of the boreholes which were along the flood plains and this has caused some farmers to rely more on the lake as they are unable to drill new boreholes.
Following a hard lesson due to the 2019 drought, Ndjarakana had now drilled a borehole in 2020 and equipped it so that when the river dries, his livestock would not die due to dehydration. He however, stated that he experienced challenges as elephants roaming around the lake damaged his boreholes which resulted in a high cost of repair.
Lake Ngami recharged during this hydrological year and had more surface water coverage area than last year due to the high rainfalls that were received over the delta. As usual some farmers around the lake have already abandoned their boreholes and now rely on the lake to water their livestock. However, experts have warned farmers not to rely too much on surface water and avoid the repeat of 2019 hydrological drought which wiped more than 38,000 animals around the lake.
Professor Mike Murray-Hudson, a professor of Wetland Ecology, University of Botswana’s Okavango Research Institute says there is likelihood of droughts in the near future, however they cannot say exactly when it will occur. ‘We should get better at predicting these events as we assimilate more data, and our modelling ability improves,’ he says. He also explained that historically, Lake Ngami is more often dry than it carries water. He advised that people making a living around the Lake have always had to revert to groundwater, and they are very good at it – digging shallow wells in the Lake bed, and drilling, running and maintaining boreholes when the Lake is dry.
He emphasized that climate change is likely to make the frequency of dry periods increase. He advises that people should be prepared to rely more heavily on groundwater, and in fact this will make the livestock sector in the area more resilient. Livestock loss due to getting stuck in the mud trying to access water as the Lake dries – if they are being watered from wells or boreholes, this does not happen.
Professor Mike Murray-Hudson further stated that in northern Botswana they have witnessed one event which has been partially attributed scientifically to climate change; that of the reduced size of the 2010-2011 inflow. He further stressed that in general terms, the climate of the African sub-continent is relatively stable as the country does not see the hurricanes of the Americas, nor the cyclones of the Indian Ocean, but is prone to extremes of temperature. ‘These are likely to become more frequent. Droughts and large rainfall events, likewise, are likely to become more frequent,’ he declares.