Abstract:
In sub-Saharan Africa, rain-fed agriculture remains one of the major sources of food,
employment for low-skilled and rural community members and income for both commercial
and subsistence farmers. Understanding problems posed by dry spells variability on
agribusinesses is one of the critical challenges of our time. This study characterised dry spells
in Lesotho for the improvement of agribusinesses using standardised precipitation (SPI) and
standardised precipitation evapotranspiration (SPEI) drought indices. This study was found
imperative mainly because Basotho’s livelihood is dependent on rain-fed agriculture and this
study further aimed to provide an early warning system that could be used for policymaking
against adverse effects of drought events in the area. A 30-year-long rainfall and average
monthly temperature data were collected from 10 administrative districts of Lesotho and
used to compute SPI and SPEI values. Three dry spell parameters – frequency, duration and
intensity – were derived from SPI and SPEI time series. The main findings of this study were
that all candidate stations experienced similar dry spell conditions in both duration and
frequency and all the selected stations throughout the country experienced extreme drought
intensity levels from both SPI and SPEI. Two of the 10 districts showed a statistically significant
decrease in Mann Kendal’s trend from both SPI and SPEI time series. This implied that
farmers must be encouraged to grow drought-resistant cultivars in order to sustain and
support agribusiness in Lesotho. Rangeland policies and legislations must be enforced for
livestock production, especially in the periods when extreme dry spell events are expected.
The government and all other relevant stakeholders are, therefore, encouraged to devise
means to support farmers with irrigation systems to maintain agricultural production,
revenue and employees’ employment status.
