Liangzhi You – The Conversation

Farmer Takesure Chimbu walks on the bed of the Kapotesa dam in Mudzi, Zimbabwe, dried out by drought. Jekesai Njikizana/AFP

August 21, 2024

Drought is devastating southern Africa’s crops: why it’s happening and what can be learned

Anna Weekes, The Conversation and Natasha Joseph, The Conversation

The drought is driven by El Niño, an unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that shifts weather patterns.

The 2016 El Niño drought in Malawi dried out maize fields, leaving only weeds. It caused a famine that left over 60 million people in Southern Africa dependent on food aid. Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images

January 28, 2024

El Niño: Malawi’s harvest of its staple food maize may fall by 22.5% this year

Joachim De Weerdt, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ; Channing Arndt, CGIAR; James Thurlow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ; Jan Duchoslav, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ; Joseph Glauber, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ; Liangzhi You, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) , and Weston Anderson, University of Maryland

Food security experts recommend that rural farmers in Malawi be given access to irrigation systems to free them from reliance on rain, and find ways outside farming to earn an income.

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