Drought set to place severe strains on PNG communities

A specialist in PNG agriculture and food says the drought gripping the country will place a range of strains on many people.The drought currently gripping Papua New Guinea is shaping up to be more severe than the last such drought in the country in 1997.Drought over recent months and frosts in the last few weeks in the Highland provinces in particular have destroyed many vital food crops.

A specialist in PNG's rural sphere, Mike Bourke from the Australian National University, says the drought will impact on many people.

If this event is the same magnitude as '97, we're talking about approximately of the order of two and a half million people who are very, very short of food. If it's of higher magnitude, more severe magnitude - and early indications seem to be that it may well be, and that's certainly the meteorological prediction, not only a stronger El Nino but also lasting a lot longer, lasting until next year - then those numbers go up."

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/282574/drought-set-…