Warming is leading Africa to hunger

Warming is leading Africa to hunger
Warming is leading Africa to hunger
Anonim

Hunger threatens 45 million people living in countries in southern Africa, according to the South African radio station SSA, citing the latest estimates from experts from the World Food Program (WFP).

The hitting countries of South Africa in recent years and the successive droughts and floods have made the danger of a massive famine real. To this should be added the current economic difficulties, which only worsen the situation of the general population of countries in this part of Africa.

Since 2015, the south of the African continent has faced a whole series of natural anomalies. One of the phenomena - the absence of downpours traditional for this region during the rainy season - had the greatest negative consequences, first of all, for the agricultural sector. The absence of precipitation for the fifth year in a row has been accompanied by an unprecedented drought and an accelerated increase in average daily temperatures. This has resulted in the current severe agricultural crisis in all 16 states in the south of the continent.

The countries most affected by the drought now have to rely on international assistance. Thus, the WFP, which is an organization in the UN system, has developed measures to provide food aid to 8.3 million people this year in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Eswatini and Madagascar.

The situation is especially dire in Zimbabwe, where 8 million people, or half of the country's population, are on the verge of starvation. Since last autumn, Zimbabwe has created a persistent shortage of basic products on the domestic market, including corn, vegetable oil, and dairy products. It is impossible to buy flour, there are no medicines, there is a shortage of fuel, the electricity is cut off for up to 18 hours a day.

All this is accompanied by a rapid rise in prices and depreciation of the national currency. Zambia, Namibia and Lesotho are also in the immediate zone of risk of starvation.

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