Weather could heat up Southern Africa food crisis
Date: 25-Nov-02
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
Author: Toby Reynolds
The United Nations World Food Programme has called for more than $500 million in donations to stave off hunger in the six countries worst affected by drought, political turmoil and failed harvests. It has thus far received half of that money.
But it says that sum was only meant to address current shortages in Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho, where it estimates that a total of some 14.4 million people face severe food shortages.
That number of needy is expected to rise in the next few months, and a poor harvest of summer crops in 2003 would exacerbate the problem, aid officials said Friday.
"The need could go up because of poor rains, a lack of seeds, and a lack of commercial food being available ... It could rise again if a poor harvest is predicted," said WFP information officer Brenda Barton.
An El Nino phenomenon is developing in the Pacific Ocean, which forecasters say will bring less rain to much of the southern part of Africa.
The U.S. based Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), citing a report by Zimbabwe's Meteorological Services Department, said moderate El Nino conditions had developed over the last two months and were expected to strengthen by early next year.
"Historical data suggest that under moderate to strong El Nino conditions the southern half of Zimbabwe is likely to experience crop yield reductions of 20 to 40 percent of normal yields," the agency said.
"As a result of this seasonal forecast, food security strategic plans for Zimbabwe should factor in a scenario of much reduced crop production in the 2003-2004 consumption year," it said.
Zimbabwe produced 500,000 tonnes of maize in 2002 against normal harvests of about 1.5 million tonnes.
FARMERS CUT HARVEST ESTIMATES
Farmers in South Africa have indicated they will plant seven percent more maize this coming season at 3.03 million hectares and are seen planting 3.3 million hectares if rain falls soon.
There has been strong regional demand for maize from South Africa, which produced 8.78 million tonnes of maize this year versus 7.2 million tonnes before.
In Maputo, Mozambique's Agriculture Minister Helder Muteia warned that El Nino could worsen the situation in his country, where cereal production is already forecast to be 300,000 tonnes less than required to meet domestic needs.
"We are struggling to get control of the situation and we are in desperate need of about 50,000 tonnes of cereals to cope with the current demand," he said, adding that the government was trying to encourage peasant farmers to irrigate their fields and plant drought resistant crops.
In Swaziland, relief agency workers decried the government's failure to meet a pledge it made to provide aid for some of the 250,000 people - a quarter of the country's population - in need of food.
The tiny country's government promised less than $1 million of the $30 million thought necessary to avert starvation, but has since spent much of its time trying to purchase a luxury jet for its king, at a cost of twice the sum needed to fund the entire relief effort.
In the meantime, international donor agencies are providing the bulk of relief supplies.
Swazi ministry sources told Reuters that erratic rainfall meant the 2003 harvest might well be as bad as that of 2002, when only one third of normal production or 69,000 tonnes of maize was collected.
Aid workers in Angola, which is not currently on the WFP's food crisis list, said the country's recently negotiated peace had stabilised food distribution efforts but that the situation was delicately balanced.
"There is a very real danger that this could deteriorate early next year because we have low resources and very little maize in the country," said WFP spokesman Marcelo Spina in Luanda.
