Drought is basically a phenomenon where there is a long period of time of dry weather and greatly reduced rainfall. A lot of countries in the world experience drought once in a while. Some experience it only for a limited time but some have it for extended periods so much so that too much damage has been done. Brazil, for instance, experienced drought before which took away 5.5 million human lives, which is also part of the reason for its slow economic growth.
Drought has varying effects on the social and economic aspects of a country. Water has become an integral part of society’s survival. So lessening our water resource is really a humongous problem that we would have to brave when faced with drought here. The economy is also powered by water to a certain extent, not only because water is needed for some operations, but also because the workers and employees need water in order to do their jobs well. Water basically is a source of physical strength for humans and thus, it is essential in maintaining their productivity.
Farmlands are the ones that are most affected by drought. The growth and productivity of farms rely heavily on water. The trees and plants which produce much of our food rely on water for growth and development, along with sunlight and soil nutrients. With less water, productivity of farms is slow and that could also affect the prices on the market. Analysing the law of supply and demand, when the supply is less, prices tend to go up. Increased prices are burdensome to the populace due to their limited budget. Especially in times of recession which a lot of countries are going through right now, having an increase in prices is the last thing consumers would want. Farmers would also have a difficult time earning as much profit as before since the rate of production decreases during drought. Some will even incur higher expenses due to some protective measures that have to be taken because of too much heat that might damage their farms. Some farms will even get destroyed due to lack of water and too much heat during drought. This also burdens the farmers to a huge extent. However, some farmers outside the drought-affected area are benefiting much. Consumers most likely divert their attention to unaffected farms whenever drought is there. Unaffected farms maintain low prices of goods and services and that is why consumers are most likely to go to them whenever other farmlands are affected by drought. So for some farmers, a drought occurring in other areas is something they would celebrate for that means more customers and more profit for them.