No sign of relief for Fiji drought victims

Updated September 8, 2010 17:40:46

Authorities in Fiji are set to meet tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss on whether to declare a State of Drought for the entire nation.

Following months of below average rainfall, crops are dying across the country ...and people on outer islands are struggling to access clean water.

The National Drought Steering Committee, including high-level officials from the environment and health departments, national disaster management office, and meteorological bureau... are meeting to assess the impact of the prolonged dry spell.

Sushil Sharma, the manager of Climate Special Services and Research Division at the Fiji Bureau of Meteorology says the current situation in Fiji is dire.

Presenter: Stephanie March
Speaker: Sushil Sharma, manager of Climate Special Services and Research Division at the Fiji Bureau of Meteorology; Bala Dass, General Secretary of the Fiji Canegrowers Association

SHARMA: What has happened is we have had three seasons of back to back dry, seasons here last year dry season came along with a very dry wet season and then we are again in our normal dry season. What we have experienced is since May 2009 to August 2010, every single station in Fiji has had below average or far below average rainfall. Different areas have been affected differently, but overall, all the figures show below or well below average rainfall.

MARCH: Whose been affected by this? Obviously the agricultural community must be bearing the brunt of it?

SHARMA: We are looking forward to a 60, 70 or even 80 per cent loss in tonnage of sugar cane production. I am myself a cane farmer and I have seen about 80 per cent decline in the expected production from my own farm.

There was a government scheme whereby it was the initiative that a lot of arable land would be planted with sugar cane and most of the farmers planted in May, June, July, August. Most of those plants have not even germinated.

Similarly, we expect other sectors to be affected. There's some areas where water has been taken to outer islands. Some families are actually using a bucket of water for two days, they have water rationing and now I have had calls from some outer stations, like Vanuabalavu where there is outbreak of diarrhoea and also we will expect an outbreak of dengue fever.

MARCH: And in terms of the weather forecast for the rest of this year and on into next year, is there any good news?

SHARMA: No, there is nothing to say much apart from the present spell of dry conditions will carry on till almost the middle to end of November. Up to November, we do not expect any major system or combination of weather systems to provide the kind of relief that we require. Rainfall deficiency in all the stations accumulatively have been in the order of about 600 to 1,000 millimetres. We require rainfall of about two to 400 millimetres to end the drought. That sort of rain will not happen in September, October, even November. We will need at least December to January at least two months of solid rain to elevate the present crisis.

MARCH: That's all bad news for the country's sugar industry. Bala Dass is the General Secretary of the Fiji Canegrowers Association.

DASS: The farmers are basically really in a very difficult position, because this drought really affects them. It not only affects the sugar industry, sugar cane, but it also affects all other crops and vegetables and livestock and poultry, basically everything, but the sugar cane farmers are the most hit people.

MARCH: What can the government and agencies do to relieve some of the burden from farmers and those affected by the drought?

DASS: Well, I think the best thing that the government can do is the government should now start moving around, check the amount of damage the farmers are facing, and then they should start preparing crop rehabilitation program like we had in sometime in the past and it's basically means that when the rains start, the farmers definitely need some assistance from the government.

MARCH: Dr Sushi Charam, from the Fiji Bureau of Meteorology says many people in Fiji are wondering if the drought has been caused by climate change or global warming. He doesn't believe either is responsible.

SHARAM: There is a thing called natural variability in the weather and climate system and this is what we are experiencing. There is a lot of climate change pundits who would like to say otherwise. We have a cycle of weather here which is influenced very much by the phenomena called El Nino. This cycle happens three to five years or even seven years. Every episode of El Nino the onset brings dry conditions over Fiji.