NGO Care Warns of Severe Drought in Southern Africa

April 22, 2024 Hour: 5:09 pm

The NGO CARE on Monday warned of an acute drought affecting many southern African countries so far this year, including Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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In the face of the severe situation caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, NGO CARE called for immediate action to alleviate the effects of this drought.

CARE’s director for Zambia, Chikwe Mbweeda told a press conference that “the rains of late 2023 and early 2024 left flooding in many places and now, the high temperatures and lack of rainfall is leaving a water deficit and severe vegetation deterioration.”

She added that “many livestock are dying at an alarming rate and displacement of desperate people has begun to occur, which in turn increases the risk of disease outbreaks such as cholera.”

#ElNiño-induced droughts are wreaking havoc in Southern Africa. In #Zambia alone, over 45% of the population has been affected.
CARE’s Chikwe Mbweeda spoke with @BBCWorld about the devastating impacts of the dry spell in Zambia, especially for women & girls. pic.twitter.com/gSbiroOcjG

— CARE International (@CAREGlobal)
April 18, 2024

Present at the press conference the executive director of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa, MalawiLitha Magingxa warned that “the frequency of these extreme weather events is increasing and is affecting food production and therefore populations, especially the most vulnerable.”

Alice Kachere, president of the Malawi Rural Women’s Assembly, a civil society organization, said that “the climate crisis is real and is affecting women, who work mostly in agriculture. She regretted that “here in Malawi many women have lost everything. They are not going to be able to harvest anything and therefore have no money even to feed their children.”

Kachere demanded that the countries that pollute the most increase climate finance and make those funds reach the people who need them. “We don’t need more policies, we need them to be implemented properly.”

On February 29, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema declared the devastating drought plaguing the country, where nearly half of Zambia’s 20 million Zambians are in need of humanitarian assistance, a national disaster.

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera also declared a state of disaster on March 23 in 23 of the country’s 28 drought-stricken districts. Some 4.4 million people, 25 % of the population, are in a situation of crisis food insecurity.

The last president to declare a national disaster was Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on April 3, due to a drought that left 2.7 million people in need of food aid.