A swathe of Southern Africa suffered the driest February in decades, precipitating power shortages and inflation.
Southern Africa suffered the driest February in decades that wiped out crops, precipitated power shortages and threatened to send already high food prices surging further.
The dry spell, blamed on the El Niño weather phenomenon, is the latest indicator of how severely Africa is being impacted by extreme weather events that scientists say are becoming increasingly frequent and severe because of climate change.last week declared the drought a national disaster — an estimated 45% of planted areas have been destroyed just as the staple corn crop should be maturing.
The cost of maize in Zambia surged an average 76% in February from a year ago. In neighbouring Zimbabwe, US dollar prices for the cereal have shown a similar increase since December alone, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network. In some areas, prices doubled within three months.Zimbabwe’s government has warned that the 2024 harvest may be half of last year’s. The local grain millers’ association plans to import as much as 1.
In Namibia, water levels in dams are already at dangerously low levels. The main reservoir supplying the capital, Windhoek, is only 11% full and dropping, according to Andries Kok, a spokesman for the national water utility.
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