Southern Africa desperate for drought funds

In southern Africa, the El Niño drought has left a trail of scorched harvests and hunger behind. The World Food Programme (WFP) is now calling for urgent funds to respond to the situation after Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe declared national emergencies sparked by the natural weather phenomenon. Namibia’s agriculture ministry has also urged the government to declare a national emergency in the country. “We need irrigation,” WFP regional director for southern Africa, Menghestab Haile, said. He added that WFP’s call for resources and funding went unheeded earlier this year. “Water, water, water - if we had the resources to expand irrigation, farmers could produce more food.”A disruption of rain patterns caused by warming surface waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, El Niño is the last thing a region regularly struck by extreme weather caused by climate needs, WFP said. It noted that the El Niño left normally fertile soils arid, interrupting the production of staples and maize, which severely reduced people’s access to food as stocks dwindled amid soaring prices.Catch-22“Governments are doing their best, but cannot deal with a shock on this scale,” Haile said. “Appealing to the international community is not a decision [governments] take lightly - it is a mark of how serious the situation has become.”Nearly five million people in the worst affected countries need assistance, it said, adding that it urgently needs N$7.45 billion to provide critical assistance over six months. “The Catch-22 is that there cannot be funding until they have commonly agreed numbers on how many people are impacted,” Haile said.“Then we will know how much food we need and for how long.” Those numbers are, however, not due until late May or June. “We cannot wait.”Without an urgent collective response, Haile said he fears untold consequences for the region.

Southern Africa desperate for drought funds

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Namibian Sun 2026-02-09

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Southern Africa desperate for drought funds

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Namibian Sun 2026-02-09

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