More than 50 million people are in need of immediate food assistance in the Horn East and Central Africa, according to Oxfam.

The humanitarian agency, in a press statement, noted that numbers could rise significantly as the region braces for harsh, climate fueled La Niña conditions.

Development Diaries understands that starting in mid-December, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda are likely to suffer from below average rainfall as a result of a strong La Niña, which could result in millions more people going hungry in 2021.

Farmers, who make up almost 80 percent of the region’s population, have already been hit hard by severe floods and the biggest desert locust swarms in 70 years as well as the economic fallout of Covid-19 pandemic.

Since January, locusts have caused $8.5 billion worth of damage across the region including to nearly 100,000 hectares of cropland in Somalia, an estimated 200,000 hectares in Ethiopia and about 70,000 hectares in Kenya, starving livestock and causing food shortages.

‘The forecasted dry season will be the last straw for many, devastating their remaining crops and cutting their lifeline of food and income’, the statement quoted Oxfam in Horn, East, and Central Africa Regional Director, Lydia Zigomo, as saying.

Oxfam noted that a Kenya farmer, Noor Maalim Abdi, said they used to have three meals a day, but due to the locust invasion and the Covid-19 pandemic, they barely eat.

‘For now, we sell our animals to sustain our families but with the curfews and lockdown, it is not easy. Our movement is restricted’, the organisation quoted Abdi as saying.

Oxfam urged world leaders to commit to more ambitious cuts in carbon emissions to prevent an even more catastrophic rise in global temperatures.

Source: Oxfam

Photo source: Fundacja PCPM