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A record drought that has devastated crops across southern Africa, leaving millions hungry and prompting five countries to declare states of national disaster, is entering its most severe phase, the UN has warned.
The United Nations World Food Programme said it expected the number of people struggling to put enough food on the table to increase as the lean season, the period between harvests when food is scarcest, begins.
“The worst period is now coming,” WFP’s acting regional director for southern Africa, Lola Castro, told AFP in an interview.
“People were not able to pick anything and the problem is that the next harvest will not take place until April 2025.”
The tiny kingdom of Lesotho two weeks ago became the latest country to declare a state of national disaster due to El Niño-induced drought, following Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Other countries, such as Angola and Mozambique, could soon follow or report a gap between the food they have and the food they need, Castro said.
By some estimates, the drought is the worst to hit the region in 100 years, she said.
At least 27 million people have been affected in a region where many depend on agriculture for survival, Castro said, speaking Friday from the WFP office in Johannesburg.
Drought has destroyed 70 percent of crops in Zambia and 80 percent in Zimbabwe, drastically reducing supplies and pushing up food prices, she said.
“When you go to productive rural areas in southern Africa today, you see a devastated scenario,” she said.
“The corn has completely dried up and fallen off, it hasn’t grown, and people are really trying to figure out what to do next to be able to feed their families.”
Although the El Niño cycle is over, its effects persist.
In some countries, the lean season began much earlier than expected, Castro said.
“The situation is extremely worrying,” she said.
“We can’t talk about famine or hunger, but people can’t afford adequate meals or consume enough calories per day. Children are starting to lose weight, the population is starting to suffer.”
WFP is working with local governments to mitigate the effects of the lack of rain.
The organization is encouraging farmers to plant more drought-resistant crops, such as sorghum, millet and cassava, to combat future droughts and has launched a $409 million appeal to provide food, cash and other assistance to about six million people in the region.
He has so far received about $200 million, Castro said.
El Niño is a recurring natural weather phenomenon corresponding to large-scale warming of surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, leading to dry conditions in some regions of the world and excessive rainfall in others.
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