Millions face hunger as extreme drought hits southern Africa

In Mangwe, a rural district in southwestern Zimbabwe, 2,000 people received food aid from a program funded by USAID and distributed by the World Food Programme. The aid is aimed at helping the 2.7 million people in rural Zimbabwe facing hunger due to a severe drought that has affected large parts of southern Africa since late 2023. The drought has scorched crops and left communities struggling to survive without enough food. This crisis has also affected neighboring countries such as Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Angola, Mozambique, and Madagascar, creating a region-wide emergency.

The United Nations Children’s Fund reports that southern Africa is experiencing overlapping crises of extreme weather, with regions alternating between storms and floods and heat and drought. In Malawi, an estimated 9 million people, half of whom are children, need assistance, while in Zambia, more than 6 million people, including 3 million children, are impacted by the drought. The extreme weather conditions are expected to persist in eastern and southern Africa in the coming years, posing a significant threat to the region’s most vulnerable populations.

The current drought in southern Africa, exacerbated by the El Niño climate phenomenon, has brought below-average rainfall and drought conditions to the region. This has severely impacted communities in arid areas like Mangwe, where households rely on drought-resistant crops like sorghum and pearl millet. Despite efforts to cultivate these hardy crops, many farmers have been unable to produce successful harvests due to the persistent dry conditions. This has left many households facing severe food shortages and forced to seek alternative sources of sustenance.

The situation in Zimbabwe and other impacted countries has reached a critical level, with millions of people facing food insecurity well into 2025. The World Food Programme’s country director for Zimbabwe describes the current circumstances as “not normal,” highlighting the severity of the crisis. With this year’s harvest essentially a write-off, aid agencies are struggling to meet the needs of all those affected by the drought, as limited resources and global hunger crises limit their capacity to provide assistance. The prospect of widespread food shortages and malnutrition looms large, posing a dire threat to vulnerable populations across southern Africa.

As aid agencies wrapped up their food distribution efforts in Mangwe, recipients like Zanyiwe Ncube were left to ponder how long the aid would last and how they would cope without further assistance. Ncube, a mother of two, expressed concern for her youngest child’s well-being, fearing that he may succumb to malnutrition before his first birthday. The looming food crisis in southern Africa underscores the urgent need for continued support and assistance from the international community to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and ensure the survival of millions facing hunger and deprivation in the region.