AUSSIE DRY SEASON ‘TO LAST 3 MONTHS’
Drought has wilted crops, left farmers struggling
AUSTRALIA’S east coast will experience dry weather for at least the next three months, the country’s meteorological bureau said yesterday, intensifying a drought that has wilted crops and left farmers struggling to stay in business.
The Meteorology Bureau said there was only a 30 per cent chance rainfall would exceed average levels over much of the east coast during spring, which runs from next month to November.
If the drought worsens, the agricultural sector would suffer further crop losses, while farmers would be forced to slaughter livestock in greater numbers as they struggle to find enough food or water to keep them alive.
The bureau raised the prospect of dry weather in the country’s west, which had escaped drought conditions, raising new concerns for food manufacturers.
Unable to source enough grain from the east coast, some food producers have started to import supplies from western Australia, where recent favourable weather had encouraged farmers to sell leftover supplies.
But the bureau said the west coast, the country’s largest agricultural producing region, would also experience drier than average weather over the next three months, tightening national supply yet further.
“East coast farmers have largely written off wheat crops this year, but the issue could be the situation in the west,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist with the National Australia Bank.
“Some had been calling for a crop in excess of 10 million tonnes (in western Australia), but if the forecast materialises, the figure will be under threat.”
Production of wheat from the world’s fourth-largest exporter is already expected to hit a decade low this year.