WINDHOEK, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is ready to support the efforts of African countries and team up with all committed development partners in building drought resilience in all agricultural sectors with special emphasis on vulnerable rural communities.
FAO Representative in Namibia, Babagana Ahmadu on behalf of FAO said this at the just concluded African Drought Conference which was held in Namibia from Aug. 15 to 19.
"Drought affects one of the very basic needs for the survival of people which is food," he said.
"When drought hits, its first and direct impact is on agriculture which supports the livelihoods of more than 60 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa," he added.
According to Ahmadu, the impacts of drought on agriculture cascade down to all economic sectors that rely on the outputs of agriculture for their input, such as agro-industry, exports, commerce, transportation, tax return, and national economies at large.
"For these reasons, agriculture should be the number one priority sector to be considered for action in any drought management strategy. In fact, a drought management plan that does not fully integrate agriculture is doomed to fail," he said.
Ahmadu said that a large number of national and regional projects supported by FAO are geared towards building greater resilience to drought and are focused on drought mitigation, preparedness and response which are the subject of the conference.
"FAO's experience shows that sound policies grounded in science and shared knowledge are the first, and the best, line of defence against drought and the basic foundation for drought risk management," he said.
"We must boost national capacity to cope before a drought occurs, thereby preventing the decline into disaster," he added.
For that reason, one of the new five FAO Strategic Objectives is entirely dedicated to building resilience to drought, Ahmadu said.
Currently, FAO is supporting many interventions that seek to strengthen the resilience of people in the dry lands of sub-Saharan Africa and is being done through different interventions.
"While droughts will inevitably occur, their impacts need not spell doom for the many millions of farmers, fishers and pastoralists who, in most cases, are heavily affected," he said.
