An Estimated 41 million people of
the 181 million people in the southern African development community are food
insecure, and out of this figure, more than 21 million people are in urgent
need of assistance.
This is according to the Vulnerability
Assessment Results released on 10 June 2016 at the 10th SADC meeting
of regional vulnerability assessment and analysis held in Pretoria, South Africa.
The SADC region has been hit by a
devastating El Niño-induced drought, the worst in 35 years, following the
failure of two consecutive rainy seasons.
The severe drought conditions have
already taken toll on lives and livelihoods and the situation could deteriorate
further if urgent assistance is not provided.
The report revealed that nearly 2.7
million children are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
And this figure is expected to rise
significantly if support to vulnerable population is not immediately provided.
SADC Director for Food, Agriculture
and Natural Resources, Mrs. Margaret Nyirenda has therefore called upon member
states and development partners to act now, to avoid a further deterioration of
the situation.
Mrs. Nyirenda said that people
continue to lose their means of survival and we can lose lives if we do not act
now.
Almost half a million
drought-related livestock deaths have been reported in Botswana, Swaziland, South
Africa and Zimbabwe alone.
Water sources and reservoirs are
severely depleted, forcing communities and their livestock to use untreated
water sources.
Zambia is the only country with a
cereal surplus of 556,000 tons.
