Soaking rains along the south eastern seaboard of Australia in the last two months have raised hopes of an end to the country's worst drought in a century. Parched, drought-stricken land is now making way for greener pastures in the country's south east and farmers – in some areas – are expecting record crops.
Soaking rains along the south eastern seaboard of Australia in the last two months have raised hopes of an end to the country's worst drought in a century. Parched, drought-stricken land is now making way for greener pastures in the country's south east and farmers – in some areas – are expecting record crops. EPA/JURGEN MOLS
Mr Beard added there was a 60 percent chance of further rainfall if the corresponding weather system La Nina really becomes apparent.
However though dams in areas such as Sydney are filling up the Weather Bureau has warned the drought is far from over in other parts of Australia saying “ Record low falls for this particular 12-month period [June 2006 – June 2007] were recorded near Albury-Wodonga, around Melbourne, in parts of northern Tasmania, in the far southeast of SA and along WA’s west coast between Shark Bay and Geraldton” though saying that, “Deficiencies are less extensive than they were for the twelve months to May, mostly because June 2006 was much drier than June 2007.”
The report went on to say, “At the current time, many catchments in eastern Australia are excessively dry from a very protracted period of below average rainfall and above average temperatures. This means that it will take above average rainfall just to produce average runoff, and very considerable rainfall to make a material difference to water storages.”
The picture is grimmer in Queensland where residents in the capital Brisbane remain on Level 5 water restrictions and there are estimates that farmers will take over a decade to recover financially from the “worst drought on record.” An initiative begun by dairy company Bega Foods called “Connecting Communities Drought Relief” fund will attempt to funnel money back to needy farming communities.
Program ambassador and television celebrity, John Wood, told media he believed the fund was a great way to raise money for needy farming communities and raise awareness of the effect the drought was having on the rural sector.
“Many Australian farmers are experiencing their eleventh year of drought and more than two thirds of Australia is affected by the drought. It may take up to a decade for Australia's water storage levels to reach capacity, even with average rainfall.”
“Some areas in Australia have received some relief from the drought with recent rains. But many areas have been less fortunate,”said Mr Wood.
The relief fund is expected to raise over $AU600,000 which will be distributed across Australia to Country Women's Associations who will distribute the funds directly to needy communities.
Bega Cheese has promised to donate 10 cents for every block of cheese sold before November 18, 2007 to the Connecting Communities fund.
Speaking in January, Daniel Connell, a water policy specialist at the Australian National University told the Financial Times the drought would dominate party policy at this year's federal elections.
“If the drought continues, water will dominate the elections,” he said adding, “Even if we have a reasonable winter, the water system is fundamentally not in good shape, and this will be a very big political issue for a number of years.”
This has proved to be the case with both major parties attempting to gain the upper hand in policies designed to reduce climate change – seen as having a major impact on the Australian drought.
Prime Minister John Howard, previously notorious as a climate change sceptic, has this week unveiled a carbon emissions trading scheme though has refused to set any targets for reducing greenhouse gases until after the election.
The Opposition Labor party has also embraced climate change as a major votewinner by promoting former rockstar and environmental activist Peter Garrett to its front bench as environmental spokesperson and calling for cuts of 60 percent in carbon emissions by 2050.
However recent rains – though restricted to some areas – have boosted farm output in some areas of the country.
Australian canola farmers, who make up a third of the world's export of the product, are now looking at producing 8.4 percent more than forecast due to the favourable conditions. A report by the Australian Oilseeds Federation predicted farmers may produce 1.67 million metric tons of canola in the 2007-08 harvest – an increase of 0.13 million tonnes from its forecast of June this year and up considerably from last year's crop of 512,000 tonnes.
Contrasting with grain farmers in Australia's north, farmers in the southern wheatbelt are expecting a better than average season according to the Director of Grain Industry Development at the Department of Agriculture, Peter Metcalfe.
"[Southern regions] are probably set for some pretty good seasons, coupled together with some good prices," he said to the ABC adding "The flip side of that, and I mean for a very stark contrast is in the northern agricultural region."
The Weather Bureau's assessment would seem to say it is far too early to declare an end to the drought – particularly in the inland and western regions where plentiful rain is still yet to fall. The NSW government's latest assessment bears this out with 70 percent of the state still noted as drought declared.
Though a significant improvement from the previous state assessment of 80.3 percent, farmers in NSW, and their counterparts in other states, will be looking for more follow up rain before the “worst drought ever” can finally be declared over.
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