Drought grips New Zealand

Key farming areas of the North Island are worst hit


The New Zealand government declared a drought in key farming areas of the North Island on Wednesday.
The affected areas include the major dairy producing region Waikato, and the horticultural regions of Hawkes Bay and the Bay of Plenty.
The dry weather stretched through the summer months. Crops that were planted in the spring, which are needed to feed cattle late in the summer, have withered away. This has forced farmers to buy expensive supplementary food. To avoid this cost, farmers have been forced to reduce their milk production, and some have even had to cull animals.
The last significant drought in New Zealand occurred in 2007- 2008, and was one of the reasons that the economy dipped into a year-long recession. Agriculture accounts for around a half of the country's USD 38 billion annual export earnings, and the current drought is threatening to cost the economy USD 830 million.

http://www.aljazeera.com/weather/2013/03/2013369315375644.html