Himoonga said he had never experienced a situation this bad before. "Every crop we planted in these fields failed," he said. "I have lost everything."
Southern Africa is in the midst of its worst drought in at least a century, with 27 million people affected and 21 million children suffering from malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme (WF P).
An unprecedented El Ninoinduced dry spell, which lasted almost two months from late January wiped out more than half the harvest in some countries.
Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have declared national disasters, while parts of Angola and Mozambique are also badly affected. The region's "lean season", where small-scale farmers have to rely on stores of food to feed themselves until the next harvest, normally runs from October to April.
However, this year it started in August, said Eric Perdison, WFP's southern Africa director.
Denne historien er fra November 14, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra November 14, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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