118 Journal of the Department of Agriculture. — Aug., 1922. 



THE GREAT DROUGHT PROBLEM OF 

 SOUTH AFRICA. 



An Outline of the Interim Report of the 

 Commission of Inquiry. 



In September, 1920, the Government appointed a Commission to 

 inquire into the best means of avoiflinty losses by drous'lii, and as a 

 result of considerable investigation during- the ensuing month?', which 

 necessitated travelling over a large area of the country, the Commis- 

 sion has presented an Interim Report* on its findings which, owing to 

 the outstanding evidence that small stock farmers suflereil i;iost from 

 drought, are concerned chiefly with that feature. The final report 

 will deal with all branches of farming. This interim report is of the 

 utmost moment to small stock farmers and, indeed, to every inhabit- 

 ant of the country, for it discloses conditions that gravely concern the 

 welfare of all and are a serious menace to posterity. It is proposed, 

 therefore, to publish hereunder the findings of the Commission as 

 disclosed in the Heport, together with brief references to the argu- 

 ments on which they are based, so as to assist in bringing to the notice 

 of the public the problem that faces tlie country and how it is recom- 

 mended to overcome it. 



In introducing its Eeport, the Commission states that two points 

 seem firmly established ; firstly, that a large portion of South Africa 

 was dry long before the white man arrived, as evidenced by tlie name 

 Karroo " and by the highly specialized drought-resisting flora of 

 that region; and secondly, that since the white man has been in South 

 Africa enormous tracts of country have been entirely or partially 

 denuded of their original vegetation, with the lesult that rivers, vleis, 

 and water holes described by old travellers have dried up or dis- 

 appeared. 



This drying out is still proceeding with alarming rapidity, and 

 the following extract from the Report, written by the Commissioners 

 deliberately and in full knowledge of its significance, reveals, as 

 nothing else can, the fate that awaits the country with a continuance 

 of present conditions : " It is unnecessary for your Commission to vie 

 with the several writers who have, at various times, with facile pen 

 depicted the gloomy and ghastly future which lies before our 

 country. . . . The simple unadorned truth is sufficiently terrify- 

 ing without the assistance of rhetoric. The logical outcovie of it all 

 is ■' The Great South African Desert ' univJinhitahle by man.'" 



The Commission finds that the main causes of drought losses and 

 the cumulative evils that they entail are the kraaling of stock, occa- 

 sioned mainly by the jackal, inadequacy of the drinking water facili- 

 ties, the destruction of vegetation and the resulting soil erosion, which. 



* Interim Report of the Drought Investigation Commission. Obtainable from the 

 Government Printer, Pretoria. Price 2s. 



