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26
AUSTRALIA'S BIG
DROUGHT
Threat toVital Food Exports
A
ustralia has jusi passed through one of its worst droughts in decades. 11 was one
of the most extensiva on record. Enormous areas of the continent from New
South Wales and Oueensland in the east to Western Australia in the .west and
Victoria in the south experienced Big Dries- that is serious lack of rainfall . In some
areas of the nation lh.e duration of !he drought had been severa! months. In other
areas it had been tour long, heartbreaking years.
Victoria, New South Wafes, and Oueenstand have had unexpected rainfalfs,
affeviating the drought in !hose areas. Very good rains and an expectation of
excellent crops have encouraged farmers in South Australia and Western Austra–
lia.
Even if the drought has been broken continent-wide, it wiff have been enormously
costly to the nation. Fifty percent of Austratia's export dollars come from agricultura.
In New South Wales alone, estimates pul fosses caused by the long dry al one third
of the stale' s stock-nearfy $1.5 billion worth of sheep and catite!
Also, winter has begun in Australia. This means that even if widespread rains
continue they are late for most graziers and grain growers except !hose in the
warmer northern hall of the country. According to bureaus of meteorology in
Oueensland, the advent of winter means farmers have some hope of drought–
breaking rains continuing lo afleviate a shakey situation.
The drought's economíc impact on the Austrafian farmer and economy is not !he
primary problem. Serious as it is for !hose dírectly affected, !he most critica! question
concerns Australia's obligations as one of !he worfd's major food-exporting
nations.
At a time when many countries - incfuding India and !he Soviet Union- are
experiencing food shortages because of a variety of reasons - drought , floods and
the high cost of oif-based ferti!izers lo name a few-Australia 's abifity to maintain its
food exports al the highest possibfe level is crucial.
Australia is the third biggest exporter of wheat in the world. lt sends about 80
percent of its annual production overseas. Australia's customers include Egypt , lran,
the Soviet Union, China, Japan and Southeast Asían nations. Whenever the long dry
season settles on its farmlands for any appreciable period, Australia finds itseff
torced to severely fimit its sales overseas.
A severely reduced acreage sown to crops in a dry drought period is not the only
threat droughts cause Austrafia's future food exports. Another indirect bu! jusi as
serious threat comes from the need lo divert wheat stocks for use as fodder lo keep
the country's cattle and sheep alive. The use of wheat as fodder in drought means
that Australia wifl have less available for export to hungry people overseas.
The prospect of this happening al a time when many of !he world's hungriest and
inost poverty-strícken nations are themselves suffering from drought- and flood–
induced lamine, is frightening.
lt would result in bitterly cruel starvation afllicting !hose leas! abte lo withstand it,
and a death tofl running into mullipte millions. No! of cattle or sheep, but
peop/e!
- Donatd Abraham
famine would reach ser ious pro–
portions in ma ny heavily popu–
lated developing nations of Afri–
ca a nd Asia by th e early or
mid- l 970s and hit La tín Ameri–
ca by 1980 .
None foresaw the decade or so
of unusua lly favora ble weather
( mi d-1960s to mid- 1970s, in
sorne a reas even later) or the
tra nsitory "success" of the Green
Revolution.
T he favora ble weather was a
gift of God to work ou t His
purpose on ea r th . The Green
Revolut ion was " ma n 's gift" of
agricultura! good a nd evil.
The Green R evolut ion allowed
ma nkind to ma ke qua ntum leaps
in food production wi thout in–
creasing cul tivable la nd, which
had a lways been necessary in
past centuries. It is based on the
use of high-yield hybrid seeds,
advanced mecha nization, inten–
s ive irrigat ion a nd heavy doses of
chemical fe rt ili zers, pesticides,
herbicides, fungi cides a nd other
chemicals .
T his agr icultura! revolution,
bequeathed by science, star ted in
the 1950s .
It
snowballed in a
handful of important developing
nations- particularly lndia, Pak–
is ta n, Turkey, the Phi lippines
a nd Mex ico. Beca use of t he
e normous yields it produced ,
many thought the Green Revo–
lu t ion would so lve the world
food problem.
At least a qu a rte r o f the
world's current food output is
direct ly a t t ribu ted to c hemical
fertil izers. Around two thirds of
the world's croplands a re t illed
with mechanica l power.
In the United Sta tes, hybridi–
zation in coro (maize) a long with
chemical agriculture t ripled coro
yie lds in three decades. Using
similar practices, in a period of
only seven yea rs, 1965 to 1972,
The
PLAIN TRUTH