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Food crises stare Africa in the face
Aid agencies scramble to feed millions across the world's poorest continent as East Africa is gripped in drought.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 January 18, 2006
Johannesburg/Nairobi: East Africa is gripped in drought while the south is blessed with rain.
But as aid agencies scramble to feed millions across the world's poorest continent it is by no means clear what the 2006 harvests will bring, even in areas that have been wet.
Good rains have been reported so far this season over much of Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
But with around 12 million people in the region in need of food aid until the April harvest, aid workers warily recall that drought only started searing the region at this time last year.
"It's too early to tell if there will be any impact from these rains on the 2006 crop in southern Africa," said Mike Huggins, a spokesman for the World Food Programme.
"Last year in countries like Malawi the drought struck in the later half of January and February so everything that had grown up to that point shrivelled," he said.
Crops devoured
Other sources report that pests such as army worms are devouring crops in Zimbabwe and Malawi, though the problem does not appear widespread at this stage.
"Of an estimated 1 million hectares of maize planted in Malawi it looks like army worms have affected about 20,000 hectares," said one aid worker.
Regional breadbasket South Africa has seen good rain over much of its maize belt this month though for some farmers they may be too late after a relatively dry start to the season. WFP has indicated that it plans to source about $80 million (Dh293.6 million) in food supplies, mostly maize, from South Africa this year.
Farmers are expected to have planted 1.61 million hectares of maize when the Crop Estimates Committee releases its preliminary estimate tomorrow, according to a Reuters consensus forecast of eight banks and trading houses.
This is far less than the 2.93 million hectares sown last year but more than enough for local needs if last year's carryover of an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of white maize is factored in.
Southern Africa can be grateful for its rainfall as crops and grazing lands elsewhere wilt under a harsh sun.
The east African countries of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania and Burundi face a worsening drought in what aid agencies say could be "a humanitarian catastrophe". The WFP says 5.4 million people need food aid there.
Production
Analysts said the drought had not badly affected cash crops in the region but warned that if rains continue to fail, production for coffee and tea could be hurt.
Worryingly, droughts could become more common because of climate change linked to global warming.
"Temperatures globally are rising and drought cycles are more frequent," Prof Levi Akundabweni, dean of the faculty of agriculture at the University of Nairobi, told Reuters.
"The environment is challenging us to devise coping mechanisms, to learn more so as to be able to understand the enormity of the problem."
The impact has been worst in Kenya, east Africa's biggest economy.
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