Africa-Press – Malawi. Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle that can occur anywhere in the world. It is a slow-onset of disaster characterised by the lack of precipitation, resulting in a water shortage. Drought can have a serious impact on health, agriculture, economy, energy and the environment.
It is the most common cause of food shortages besides other underlying factors such as conflict, poverty, floods and lack of agricultural infrastructure. Drought is exacerbated by environmental degradation and climate change.
Drought represents a constant threat to world food security. It causes income losses because several sectors can be affected. Prices of food products rise as supplies are reduced, with severe effects on the poorest and most vulnerable.
Also shortfalls in food production leads to substantial increases in imports to meet local needs, which can result in increased fiscal pressure on national budgets.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation, the frequency, duration and intensity of droughts have generally increased worldwide, posing a constant threat to world food security.
Consequently, more than 11 million people have died and more than two billion have been affected worldwide as a result of droughts since the turn of the century, which is more than any other physical hazard.
Rising temperatures caused by climate change are making already dry regions drier and wet regions wetter. In dry regions, this means that when temperatures rise, water evaporates more quickly, and thus increases the risk of drought or prolongs periods of drought. Drought has become more frequent and more severe in recent years and drought affected areas are projected to increase in extent.
It ranks as the single most common cause of severe food shortages, particularly in developing countries, and represents one of the most important natural triggers of malnutrition and famine. It affects the four dimensions of food security, which are availability, stability, access and utilisation.
Its impacts on agriculture include crop losses, lower yields in both crop and livestock production, increased livestock deaths, increases in insect infestation and plant and animal diseases, damage to fish habitat, forest and range fires, land degradation and soil erosion.
Drought directly affects food production, resulting in lower crop yields, unharvested areas, reduced crop health and quality, additional supplementation costs in terms of animal feed, limited access to water and pastures, increased livestock weight loss and mortality, forest fires and ecosystem deterioration and loss.
This, in turn, increases the agriculture sector’s vulnerability. Food production systems are also particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change that lead to drought.
Therefore, it is of key importance to channel efforts towards adaptation, to guarantee the resilience of these systems and maintain the necessary production levels for food security.
When direct production losses occur, it is important that countries declare agricultural emergencies and develop support policies and investment tools, such as credit options at subsidised interest rates, tax exemptions and temporary exceptional management measures.
Production losses, however, are only part of the challenge. The impacts of droughts are widespread, affecting economies and decreasing the quality of life of people.
In conclusion, drought remains a serious threat to food security, the impact of which is more prevalent in already vulnerable communities. Besides the economic and natural resources losses, droughts cause displacement of people, migration and loss of human life.
Therefore, investments in mitigation measures is therefore not an issue for debate, as millions of people are at risk of being displaced as a result of drought by 2030.
Consequently, the mitigation against the effects of drought requires a multi-strategy and multi-stakeholder framework in order to ensure resilience in food security.
The strong cooperation and collaboration among key stakeholders which include indigenous leaders, communities, civil society groups, and government, is a valuable asset in monitoring, evaluating and mitigating against drought and drought impacts such as food insecurity.
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