Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Millions in drought-hit Zim at risk of hunger
The UN World Food Programme ǻ Ǽȱ¢ȱȱȱȱ ȱ with Zimbabwe’s government and aid agencies to provide food to 2,7 million rural people in the country because of drought conditions. The drought is a result of the El Niño weather phenomenon in Southern Africa.
“Nearly 20% of Zimbabwe’s population is at risk of hunger in drought-ravaged areas where people rely on smallscale farming to eat. The El Niño is expected to compound this by causing below-average rainfall again this year,” said Francesca Erdelmann, WFP country director for Zimbabwe. According to the World Meteorological ȱǻ Ǽǰȱȱ ȱ Ûȱȱ had developed in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years, setting the stage for a likely surge in global temperatures and disruptive weather and climate patterns.
In 2016, Zimbabwe declared a state of disaster following a drought triggered by El Niño conditions, which left 2,44 million people struggling for food. Some 75% of Zimbabwe received less than normal rainfall that year, which resulted in the death of 17 000 heads of livestock and a grain deficit of 1,5 million tons.
The US’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network warned the El Niño weather pattern, which is expected to dissipate by mid-2024, is expected to drive below-average rainfall across much of Southern Africa. This followed localised below-average harvests in 2023 and poor macroeconomic conditions in Malawi and Zimbabwe.
“More than 60% of Zimbabwe’s
15 million people live in rural areas. Their life is increasingly affected by a cycle of drought and floods aggravated by climate change, Erdelmann said.
“Dry spells are becoming longer and more severe. For decades, Zimbabwe’s rainy season reliably ran from October to March.
“It has become erratic in recent years, sometimes starting only in December and ending sooner,” Erdelmann added.
The United States Agency for International Development, the US government’s foreign aid agency, estimated through its Famine
Early Warning Systems Network that 20 million people in Southern Africa will need food relief between January and March this year.
Many people in the areas of highest concern, such as Zimbabwe, southern Malawi, parts of Mozambique as well as southern Madagascar, will be unable to feed themselves into early 2025 due to the El Niño phenomenon.
‘THEIR LIVES ARE INCREASINGLY AFFECTED BY DROUGHTS AND FLOODS AGGRAVATED BY CLIMATE CHANGE’