{"id":18499,"date":"2020-01-25T18:34:36","date_gmt":"2020-01-25T16:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=18499"},"modified":"2020-01-25T18:34:36","modified_gmt":"2020-01-25T16:34:36","slug":"drought-and-hunger-stalk-southern-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/drought-and-hunger-stalk-southern-africa","title":{"rendered":"Drought and hunger stalk southern Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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C<\/span>onsecutive years of drought, flooding and economic decay have left a record 45 million people in southern Africa facing severe food shortages, aid agencies have said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are already facing below average rainfall, while Malawi is yet to recover from a fall armyworm invasion that started in 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Zimbabwe, once one of Africa\u2019s leading agriculture producers, is said to be the hardest hit by a drought now stretching into the second year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The country, which has suffered nearly two decades of economic turmoil, was hit hard by massive flooding caused by Cyclone Idai last March, along with neighbouring Mozambique.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Aid agencies now say the region is ill prepared to cope with the hunger crisis, especially in countries already weakened by economic problems such as Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said the hunger crisis was on a scale \u201cwe\u2019ve not seen before and the evidence shows it\u2019s going to get worse\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n