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  Straits Times 30 Aug 07
Drought draining Australian food bowl
Gnawing fear of depression as farmers default, interest rates rise

MOULAMEIN (AUSTRALIA) - A THIN winter green carpets hills and plains, camouflaging a catastrophic drought in Australia's food bowl - the Murray-Darling river basin.

Some crops in the region, in good times the source of almost half the nation's fruit and cereal crop, are just 10 days away from failure.

'It's grim. The water is not there,' says Ms Wendy Craik, head of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, in charge of storage in the country's longest river and dam system.

Storms in May and June brought floods and seemingly an end to the drought but failed to meet predictions. June rainfall was below average and the current dry conditions have negated the good effects of July rains, the Melbourne Herald Sun reported.

In April, Prime Minister John Howard warned of an 'unprecedentedly dangerous' drought and advised the nation to pray for rain. Economists said the drought would wipe 1 per cent off the A$940 billion (S$1.17 trillion) economy in 2006-07.

Some farmers blame the drought on global warming, while others are sceptical.

Citrus grower Louis Sartor is not convinced about climate shift's role in the drought, despite predictions by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that temperatures could rise by 6.7 deg C by century's end. 'Find me the scientist that can stand up on a platform and say 'I know',' he says.

That scepticism runs even deeper south along the Murray, with many farmers convinced that irrigation shortages are the result of government bungling and a determination to claw back precious water for a green agenda driven by majority city-dwellers.

'I class this as a human-induced crisis, not a climate-induced one,' says Mr Neil Eagle, 79, another citrus grower.

But environmental scientists like Australian of the Year Tim Flannery say the continent is a 'harbinger' of climate shift and experiencing accelerated greenhouse warming.

They want to pipe the open irrigation ditches carved laser-straight across the landscape and cut back water use by 1,500 gigalitres to protect long-term river health.

Dairy farmer Phil O'Neill faces ruin with his critical water allocation cut and has opted to sell some of his land.

He feels climate change may be a part of what some say is the worst drought for a century. 'I'm a bit of a believer. This weather change combined with cyclical downturn in rains, it's a bloody disaster,' he says.

By bringing hope, the rains in May and June ironically may have also worsened the drought's impact.

'We thought it was just going to keep on raining. When you go into drought, people normally just lock up and don't spend, but after that rain everyone just went out and spent money to plant crops and climb out of the hole they were in,' says cattle farmer Ian Shippen.

Reserve Bank figures show rural debt has soared from A$26 billion in 1999 to A$43 billion in 2005. 'We are hearing stories of farmers defaulting on lease payments,' says Mr George Warne, the head of Murray Irrigation.

Adding to the economic vice are rising interest rates. Most farmers already owe millions of dollars for tractors, harvesters and irrigation equipment. There is fear that depression may set in among farmers as the drought hits harder.

'There's an underlying epidemic of fear and worry out there,' says Mr Warne. 'We've got all the signs of a stressed community.'

REUTERS
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