About 10 million people in southern Africa—Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,
Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—are experiencing famine or the threat of
famine. In Malawi, an estimated 70 percent of the population has been affected by
food shortages, with the situation only a little better in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In
past years, grain shortfalls in the region could be filled with imports from South Africa, but this
year that country too has produced lower than normal yields.
The immediate causes of the current crisis are drought, flooding, and low levels of crop
planting.What has made these countries so vulnerable to famine, however, is chronic poverty
and inadequate policies. Now these conditions have combined to result in severe shortfalls in
food production and in turn high prices for maize, the staple food of the region.
The key to overcoming this famine is appropriate and effective policies. Environmental
shocks like drought bring collapse only to systems that are already weak owing to poor policies
and governance.To mitigate the present famine in southern Africa and to prevent others in the
future, governments in the region will have to adopt the well-being of their people as their
central goal. If governments allow wars, corruption, and poor policies to continue, actions to
mitigate and prevent famines will fail.
Policies for mitigating famine lie on a spectrum ranging from immediate relief to
recovery to initiating development. Preventing future famines requires long-term development
policies.When deciding which mitigation policies to adopt, policymakers must consider two
questions:What interventions should be implemented? And when will their implementation be
most effective? Policymakers must answer these questions within the context of their own
country.
Described here are the policy approaches that IFPRIВ® research in Africa has shown to be
effective in fighting famine.
IFPRI website: www.ifpri.org
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