(MENAFN) As widespread flooding continues to pose significant challenges across East Africa, United Nations humanitarians have turned their attention to landlocked Zambia, which is grappling with a severe drought. According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, on Wednesday, a humanitarian appeal has been launched to address the pressing needs in Zambia, where the situation has reached critical levels.
The appeal, amounting to 228 million U.S. dollars, aims to provide vital assistance to approximately 4.6 million people in Zambia between now and December. Dujarric emphasized the severity of the situation, noting that Zambia is currently facing its driest agricultural season in over four decades, exacerbating crop losses, escalating livestock fatalities, and intensifying poverty levels.
The impact of the drought on agricultural productivity has been devastating, with nearly half of the 2 million hectares of maize planted in the country being destroyed. Authorities predict that cereal production will plummet by almost 50 percent this year alone, further exacerbating food insecurity and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
Dujarric underscored the gravity of the situation by highlighting that more than 9 million people in Zambia, which accounts for nearly half of the population, are currently facing food insecurity and urgently require humanitarian assistance to survive. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths has allocated 13.5 million dollars from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to address the El Nino-induced drought in southern Africa.
In April, Zambia received a portion of this allocation amounting to 5.5 million dollars, with an additional 2.5 million U.S. dollars allocated earlier. The government of Zambia declared a national drought disaster back in February, signaling the magnitude of the crisis and the need for immediate and sustained international support to mitigate the adverse effects of the drought and alleviate the suffering of affected communities.
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