ABSTRACT
In terms of drought relief and rehabilitation pro grammes, the economy-wide impacts of drought have also often been largely ignored. Sub-Saharan African governments and the international community have typically responded to drought events by mounting large-scale relief operations. These absorb a sub stantial share of resources both of the affected countries and the international community. For instance, 7.5 per cent of the UK aid programme was expended on the British response to the drought and famine crisis in Africa during the fiscal years 1984-5 and 1985-6 (Borton et al. 1988). The primary objective of such assistance invariably has been to minimise suffering and loss of human life. Food aid, much of it for use in direct, free distribution pro grammes within the affected areas, has bulked large in relief efforts. For example, some US$4 billion, including associated logistical costs, in food aid and government-organised commercial grain imports, was provided in response to the 1991/92 (i.e., July 1991 to June 1992) drought in southern Africa (Collins 1993). In contrast, the importance of nonfood items, such as water equipment, essential drugs, livestock feed, and agricultural inputs, has apparently been less fully recognised (Thompson 1993, DHA and SADC 1992). Moreover, efforts designed expressly to miti gate the impacts of droughts before their onset have generally been accorded even lower priority.
