Zambia declares national emergency as drought devastates food security

ZAMBIA – Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has declared the country’s debilitating drought a national disaster and emergency, saying it had devastated food production affecting more than a million households.

The drought has destroyed about 1 million hectares of the 2.2 million hectares planted with the staple maize crop, he said.

“This drought has devastating consequences on many sectors such as agriculture, water availability and energy supply, risking our national food security and the livelihoods of millions of our people,” Hichilema explained. 

Like some of its neighbours, this southern African country is suffering from severe drought due to the El Nino phenomenon, which is worsening harsh weather conditions attributed in part to climate change.

In a speech to the nation, Mr Hichilema said he had asked security forces to focus more on food production. He said 84 of the country’s 116 districts were affected by the prolonged drought and that authorities would take food from areas where there is a surplus and distribute it to areas in need.

Additionally, Zambia plans to increase food imports and mobilize UN agencies and local businesses to help.

Electricity generation hasn’t been spared either, with the country expecting a power deficit of about 430 megawatts “potentially reaching 520 megawatts by December,” according to the Zambian President, as water levels decline at the country’s major source of hydropower, the Kariba Dam, which it shares with neighbour, Zimbabwe.

To cope, the country will import electricity and also ration supplies to its approximately 20 million people, he said.

The driest February in 40 years

Although many countries in southern Africa are yet to declare a national disaster, they are also in a dire situation because of the influence of El Nino weather patterns, according to the UN agency, the World Food Program.

Parts of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana are experiencing the driest February in the past 40 years, while severe rainfall shortages have been recorded in southern Malawi, eastern Angola and parts of Mozambique, said the WFP in a bulletin this week.

The United States Agency for International Development, the US government’s foreign aid agency, has estimated through its Famine Early Warning Systems Network that 20 million people in southern Africa will need food relief between January and March.

Many people in the areas of highest concern such as Zimbabwe, southern Malawi, parts of Mozambique and southern Madagascar will be unable to feed themselves into early 2025 due to El Nino, USAID said.

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