Consecutive years of drought, flooding and economic decay have left a record 45 million people in southern Africa facing severe food shortages, aid agencies have said.
Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are already facing below average rainfall, while Malawi is yet to recover from a fall armyworm invasion that started in 2017.
Zimbabwe, once one of Africa’s leading agriculture producers, is said to be the hardest hit by a drought now stretching into the second year.
The country, which has suffered nearly two decades of economic turmoil, was hit hard by massive flooding caused by Cyclone Idai last March, along with neighbouring Mozambique.
Aid agencies now say the region is ill prepared to cope with the hunger crisis, especially in countries already weakened by economic problems such as Zimbabwe.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said the hunger crisis was on a scale “we’ve not seen before and the evidence shows it’s going to get worse”.
