A devastating drought intensified by the 2023-2024 El Niño phenomenon has plunged 26 million people across southern Africa into acute food insecurity, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Wednesday. The crisis is hitting Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe the hardest, with five countries already declaring national emergencies as crops fail and livestock perish.
Farmers across the region are unable to plant seeds, leaving vast fields barren. In Mozambique, communities are surviving on just one meal daily, while in Malawi, food shortages have forced imports to provide relief. Even Zambia, historically regarded as southern Africa’s food basket, is teetering on the edge of a hunger crisis. Namibia, despite its upper-middle-income status, is also grappling with severe shortages.
The WFP urgently needs $300 million to deliver life-saving aid and prevent the situation from worsening. “Assistance cannot wait,” warned Antonella D’Aprile, WFP’s Mozambique director. “The time to support is now.”
