This is the umpteenth warning issued by humanitarian and environmental institutions about food security in Africa. The latest is from Oxfam, which reports that 24 million people in Zimbabwe (3 million), Mozambique (3 million) and Zambia (6 million) are suffering from hunger and water shortages.
The rest are in Malawi, where more than half of the 20 million inhabitants are still suffering from the after-effects of storm Ana (2022) and cyclone Freddy (2023). According to the UK-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), these extreme weather phenomena are the main cause of the food insecurity currently affecting southern and eastern Africa.
To illustrate its report, Oxfam refers to “the 2 million hectares of food crops (maize in particular) destroyed by climatic hazards since January 2024”, in addition to the 7,000 houses and public infrastructure damaged. He adds that “the hunger crisis is now forcing people in the four countries to resort to negative coping mechanisms such as skipping meals and selling their only possessions in order to survive”.
Are climate and hunger linked?
Indeed, longer periods of drought and more frequent natural disasters are obstacles to food security. For Action Against Hunger, this is due to the fact that “growing seasons are becoming shorter and more unpredictable, and soils are being sterilised, with a consequent impact on the ability to produce food in sufficient quantity and quality”. The French NGO goes further, pointing out that this interruption in crop cycles results in “a drop in the nutritional content of food, lower yields and incomes, and a decline in the quantity of fruit and vegetables available per capita”.
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Urgent solutions are therefore needed, so that we no longer have to read these alarming reports by Oxfam and Action Against Hunger. In a recent interview with Afrik21, scientist Mehrdad Ehsani suggests, for example, combating the “astonishing levels of food waste juxtaposed with the serious food crisis on the African continent”. For the Rockefeller Foundation’s Vice President for Africa, it is vital that governments focus more on “innovation to improve food productivity and distribution channels”.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi