Not so long ago, investment bankers and economic analysts
were saying Africa was the next big thing in global growth. Rising foreign
investment, soaring GDP rates and an emerging ‘middle class’ were seen as
evidence of a new era dawning. But today, much of the continent is again
threatened by its familiar enemies of drought and war. By some estimates, over 40
million Africans in a dozen countries are now in need of humanitarian
assistance because of food shortages that have expanded from the Horn of Africa
to South Sudan and into the farthest corners of southern Africa. The crisis
began last year with the El Nino weather pattern. This causes a periodic
worldwide shift caused by Pacific Ocean warming, but the latest one has been
heightened and intensified by climate change, making it the most extreme in
decades. It has brought months of drought to countries across East Africa and
Southern Africa, with the effects persisting this year.
In the Horn of Africa, crops are failing and herdsmen are
watching their animals die. In Zambia, the drought is causing a major hydro
reservoir to dry up, leading to a huge loss of electricity generation, which in
turn is resulting in mine shutdowns and layoffs. And in countries such as
Zimbabwe and South Africa, the drought is causing poor harvests, triggering
steep rises in food prices and forcing governments to import expensive foreign
food or to plead for help.
Ethiopia despite its
reputation as a country of famine in the early 1980s, rebounded to become one
of Africa’s fastest-growing economies in recent years. But now hunger is making
a comeback. The most severe drought in a half-century has swept across huge
swaths of Ethiopia, and an estimated 10.2 million Ethiopians now need
humanitarian aid. One charity, Save the Children, has classified the Ethiopian
situation as a “code-red emergency” – as serious as the war in Syria. But
despite urgent appeals, only about half of the needed $1.4-billion (U.S.) in
food aid has arrived so far.
“The present situation here keeps me awake at night,” said
John Graham, country director in Ethiopia for Save the Children. “If these
emergency funds do not arrive in time, there is no question that there will be
a critical fracture in the food-aid supply pipeline during the main ‘hungry
season,’ which peaks in August,” he said in a statement. “The situation here is
as grave as I have ever seen it in the 19 years I have spent in Ethiopia and we
now only have a tiny fraction of time for the international community to help
to stop this. Families should not be put in a position where they need to make heartbreaking
decisions about what they use precious water for – to drink and cook with, or
to bathe their children and prevent the spread of disease,” Mr. Graham said. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/devastating-drought-threatens-to-unravel-economic-growth-in-africa/article28762210/
With a population of 95 million, Ethiopia is the second-most
populous country in Africa. But about 80 per cent of its population is rural,
leaving it highly vulnerable to drought. More than 400,000 children will suffer
from severe malnutrition in Ethiopia this year, according to projections, while
a further 1.7 million children, pregnant women and young mothers are at risk of
falling into severe malnutrition if they don’t get help soon. More than 2.5
million children are likely to drop out of the education system because of the
drought. In addition, there are 5.8 million Ethiopians who need urgent access
to drinking water. The water shortages have left them vulnerable to disease and
illness.
In neighbouring Somalia, an estimated 4.7 million people are
in need of humanitarian aid. In some regions, the drought has killed up to 80
per cent of the livestock, and pastoralists are desperately searching for
pastures and water for their animals.
In South Sudan, where one of Africa’s most catastrophic wars
has been raging for more than two years, at least 40,000 people in one region
are already on the brink of starvation. Only the remoteness of their region has
prevented an official famine declaration – it is considered too dangerous for
aid workers to visit. In total, about a quarter of South Sudan’s 12 million
people are facing a hunger crisis and in need of humanitarian aid – primarily
because of war, not drought. In some districts, people are surviving by
scavenging for fish and water lilies in swamps, but the water will soon dry up
as the rainy season ends.
Southern Africa, traditionally less prone to malnutrition
than the Horn of Africa, has been severely hit by the latest drought. From
Botswana and Namibia to Mozambique and Madagascar, much of the region is
suffering the lowest level of rainfall in 35 years. In Mozambique, prices were
50 percent higher than last year.
“Over the coming year, humanitarian partners should prepare
themselves for food insecurity levels and food insecure population numbers in
southern Africa to be at their highest levels since the 2002-2003 food crisis,”
a statement last week by United Nations and European Union researchers said.
Even a country such as South Africa, with one of the
continent’s most advanced economies, is suffering badly from the drought. Lack
of rainfall has led to declarations of agricultural emergencies in five of the
country’s nine provinces, and the government will be forced to import maize.
Soaring food prices are pushing thousands of South Africans into poverty. In
Lesotho, and Swaziland planting delayed by two months or more has severely
impacted maize yields
Malawi
The country is experiencing its first maize deficit in a
decade, pushing the price 73 percent higher than the December 2015 average.
Zimbabwe
The drought is particularly bad in southern Africa,
including Zimbabwe, where an estimated three million people (about 30 per cent
of the population) are in desperate need of food aid. Animals are dying and
harvests are failing in the worst drought in a quarter-century. Food production
in Zimbabwe had fallen by half compared to last year and maize was 53 percent
more expensive. President Robert Mugabe’s government has appealed for
$1.5-billion (U.S.) in emergency humanitarian aid, mostly to pay for food
imports and to repair irrigation equipment. The government says it will need to
import 1.5 million tonnes of maize, the main food staple.
Zambia
The drought has wreaked havoc on Zambia’s economy, not only
by hurting its farmers but also by damaging the supply of electricity to its
copper mines. Almost all of Zambia’s electricity is generated by hydro power,
mainly from the huge Kariba Dam. But the dam’s reservoir has fallen to just 12
per cent of its capacity, forcing Zambia to cut the power supply to its mining
companies by 30 per cent. This, in turn, has led to higher costs and layoffs at
the mines.
South Africa
Food prices are soaring in South Africa because of the
drought, with the cost of maize rising by about 75 per cent over the past year.
The World Bank estimates the drought pushed 50,000 South Africans into poverty
last year. The country will need to import 3.8 million tonnes of maize this
year, forcing prices even higher. Five of the country’s nine provinces have
declared agricultural emergencies and food prices are expected to rise by a
further 20 per cent this year.
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