Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema declared the drought a national disaster and emergency on February 29th , saying it had devastated food production and power generation, as the country struggles to recover from a recent cholera epidemic. The lack of rain has devastated the agricultural sector, affecting more than one million families. The southern African country has gone without rain for five weeks at a time when farmers need it the most, a situation the government is still trying to remedy.
Zambia is suffering from severe drought due to the El Nino phenomenon, which is worsening harsh weather conditions attributed in part to climate change. In a speech to the nation, Mr Hichilema said he had asked security forces to focus more on food production. He said 84 of the country’s 116 districts were affected by the prolonged drought and that authorities would take food from areas where there is a surplus and distribute it to areas in need.
With heavy hearts, we’ve declared a national disaster & emergency as our country faces severe drought, caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, influenced by climate change. The prolonged dry spell has impacted both Zambia’s food & energy security that are our key priorities. This drought is having devastating consequences on many sectors such as agriculture, water availability, and energy supply, jeopardizing our national food security and the livelihoods of millions of people. Drought is expected to continue until March, affecting more than a million of our agricultural households
Hakainde Hichilema , President of the Republic – Zambia
Also Zambia plans to increase food imports and mobilizes UN agencies and local businesses to help. He added that the drought has destroyed about 1 million hectares of the 2.2 million hectares planted in corn, the staple crop. To cope with this situation, the country will import electricity and ration the supply for its approximately 20 million inhabitants. Zambia was recently hit by one of its worst outbreaks of cholera, which killed more than 400 people and infected more than 10,000.
Although many countries in southern Africa are yet to declare a national disaster, they are also in a dire situation because of the influence of El Nino weather patterns, according to the U.N agency, the World Food Program. Parts of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana are experiencing the driest February in the past 40 years, while severe rainfall shortages have been recorded in southern Malawi, eastern Angola and parts of Mozambique, said the WFP in a bulletin this week.
