Over the next six months, 45 million people in 16 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries will suffer from severe food insecurity. The record number was released by United Nations food agencies.
To mitigate this process, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Program (WFP) call for urgent funding to avert a severe hunger crisis in the region.
The three UN agencies also urge the international community to scale up investments with long-term measures to counter the effects of the climate crisis and boost the ability of communities and countries to address it.
“We have had the worst drought in 35 years”.
Just right now, 11 million people face critical levels of food insecurity in nine southern African countries: Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. “We have had the worst drought in 35 years in the central and western areas during the agricultural season,” explains Margaret Malu, regional director of the World Food Program (WFP) for Southern Africa.
Just right now, 11 million people face critical levels of food insecurity in nine southern African countries: Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. “We have had the worst drought in 35 years in the central and western areas during the agricultural season,” explains Margaret Malu, regional director of the World Food Program (WFP) for Southern Africa.
“Late rains, long droughts, massive cyclones and economic problems have proven to be a disastrous combination for food security and livelihoods across southern Africa,” said Alain Onibon, FAO subregional coordinator to Southern Africa. Countries in the region have experienced normal rainfall only in one of the last five agricultural seasons.
“Since many farming communities may need at least two or three agricultural seasons to resume normal production, immediate aid becomes vital. Now is the time to broaden the response to the agricultural emergency, ” added Onibon.
According to him, it is necessary to ensure that farmers and herders benefit from the expected good rains – should they occur. “This would be crucial in helping them rebuild their livelihoods,” he concluded.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), temperatures in southern Africa are rising twice the world average, and the region includes six of the nine countries that will be most affected by the adverse climate in the coming years: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“With a region so prone to crisis and affected by high rates of chronic hunger, structural inequality and poverty, climate change is an emergency that must be addressed with the utmost urgency,” said Robson Mutandi, IFAD Southern Africa Director.
He points out that governments must play the most relevant role, but everyone must collaborate. “It affects each of us,” concludes.