World Food Programme can only secure 20% of drought aid for Southern Africa

World Food Programme can only secure 20% of drought aid for Southern Africa

The United Nations World Food Programme has secured only 20 percent in drought aid for Southern Africa. This is approximately N$ 1.5-billion of its almost eight-billion-target, to address the drought in seven affected countries. The region has been hit hard by the El Niño weather pattern and faces its worst drought in decades. Despite donor support, the WFP can only provide aid to 5.9 million of the 27 million people […]

August 7, 2024 8

Namibia

Malnutrition affects 14,000 in Kavango East

The Kavango East Region has recorded 15 deaths due to malnutrition this year, with around 14,000 people affected. Last year, the region saw an increase in malnutrition cases with 2,716 affected and 30 deaths. HIV patients and pregnant women are among the affected groups. Governor of the Kavango East Region, Bonifatius Wakudumo. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, between September and December 2022, around 367,000 people, […]

July 30, 2024 73

Africa

Lesotho declares food insecurity emergency

Lesotho's government says people are at risk of extreme hunger in the next eight months. The country's Prime Minister Sam Matekane has declared a national food insecurity disaster spanning eight months from July 2024 to March 2025. The Lesotho Times reports Matekane announced that severe El Niño-induced droughts are causing extreme hunger for at least 700,000 Basotho, a notable rise from the 582,000 affected in the 2022/2023 period. This crisis, […]

July 24, 2024 36

Environment

Drought response to cost N$ 1.3 billion

Following President Nangolo Mbumba’s declaration of a national emergency due to severe drought induced by El Nino, the government has allocated N$825 million for relief efforts, but Deputy Prime Minister John Mutorwa says a funding gap of N$482 million, with the total needed at N$1.307 billion. Relief efforts include food aid for nearly 342,000 households, livestock support, and water provisions. Executive Director in the Office of the Prime Minister, I-Ben […]

June 20, 2024 44

Africa

Malawi faces a food crisis: why plans to avert hunger aren’t realistic and what can be done

By Joachim De Weerdt, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Jan Duchoslav, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Malawi is heading towards a severe food crisis later this year. Drought brought on by the El Niño weather pattern has affected the harvest of maize, the staple food grown by nine out of 10 farming households in the country. The government declared a state […]

June 3, 2024 36

Africa

Sweet sorghum is a hardy, nutritious, biofuel crop that offers solutions in drought-hit southern Africa

Sweet sorghum ripening in Rwanda. Ari Beser/Getty Images By Hamond Motsi, Stellenbosch University The southern African region is battling with drought at present. This is the result of El Niño, a natural climate cycle characterised by changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures. It has effects on global weather patterns, particularly rainfall and temperature. The drought has hit the region’s agricultural productivity hard. Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have […]

May 23, 2024 42

Africa

More than half of Zimbabwean population needs food aid

Zimbabwe’s cabinet has revealed that more than half of the nation’s population of about 15 million people will immediately need food aid until March next year, as the country reels from the impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon that’s already slashed corn output and led to a national state of disaster being declared. Bloomberg reports that the southern African nation’s rural areas are the most affected with 6 million […]

May 16, 2024 11

Environment

Agriculture Ministry calls for national drought emergency

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform has advised the government to declare a national drought emergency following its assessment of crop prospects and food security. According to Nampa, the recommendation was made after monitoring the situation in the seven major northern communal crop-producing regions from 12 February to 11 March 2024. Executive Director Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata highlighted significant distress grazing in the southern, western, and eastern parts of the […]

April 23, 2024 27

Africa

Insurance payouts expected for some Southern African drought hit countries

A drought driven by the El Nino weather pattern is likely to trigger insurance payouts to four southern African countries that took out cover with an agency of the African Union. Bloomberg reports that Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique will receive payments at the end of the harvesting season, according to current projections, African Risk Capacity said in a statement but the payments are unlikely to meet regional needs.

April 22, 2024 30