Millions of people are at risk of hunger as southern Africa enters the lean season, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.
WFP has appealed for urgent assistance in southern Africa to prevent widespread drought triggered by the El Niño phenomenon from becoming a “full-blown humanitarian catastrophe”.
According to the UN agency, five southern African countries – Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe – have all declared the hunger crisis a catastrophe, requesting international humanitarian assistance. Angola and Mozambique are also badly affected.
“October marks the beginning of the lean season and each month is expected to be worse than the previous one until the next harvest in March/April,” Tomson Phiri, WFP spokesperson for southern Africa, told a news briefing in Geneva.
“The situation is dire and the need for action has never been clearer,” he added, noting that more than 6.5 million people are in need of assistance in the seven countries.
According to WFP, harvests fell short of farmers’ expectations, while livestock have perished and children are lucky to receive even one meal a day.
The region is facing a “historic” drought, threatening more than 27 million lives, while an estimated 21 million children are malnourished.
For many communities, this is the “worst food crisis in decades.”
At the request of governments, WFP says it has begun providing food assistance and essential support for transport, logistics and food procurement.
It plans to scale up seasonal relief operations in the coming months, distributing food and cash in selected areas to more than 6.5 million people in the seven hardest-hit countries through March 2025.
“If we do not receive additional resources, millions of people risk going through the worst lean season in decades without assistance,” Phiri warned, calling for massive funding to carry out the planned actions.
ODL/te/Sf/fss/jn/APA