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Southern Africa sees one of its poorest harvests in recent years: report

Xinhua, August 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Following an El Niño-induced drought, Southern Africa is experiencing one of its poorest harvests in recent years, and an upsurge in households facing acute food insecurity, according to a report published here on Monday.

A higher than normal number of people are currently facing acute food insecurity and about 17 million people will be in crisis between January-March 2017, requiring immediate assistance, said the report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEW NET).

At the height of the harvest period, many poor households in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Lesotho, and Swaziland currently face food insecurity, the report said.

Households in these countries are facing consumption gaps because they did not produce much staple this season and labour incomes are well-below average, constraining food access for households that are relying on market purchases for consumption much earlier than usual, the report said.

For households in many drought-affected areas in the region, this is the second or third consecutive year of poor production.

A regional cereal deficit of 6-8 million metric tons is expected in Southern Africa.

The report indicated that imports from Zambia, Tanzania, and other international markets will only partially mitigate this shortfall.

Maize prices, which are already above last year and the five-year average, are expected to rise further and remain significantly above these levels, especially in Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe, according to the report.

Some of the main drivers of the high food prices are low maize supplies and substantially higher demand, the report said.

Weather forecasts indicate that a La Niña event is likely to develop during the start of the 2016-17 agricultural season.

In the Southern Africa region, a La Niña event tends to be associated with above-average rainfall, however initial model forecasts suggest that precipitation will be near average for October-December. Enditem