Madagascar: ‘Children do not run or play in their eyes is deep sorrow World Food Programme (WFP) partnerships officer Krystyna Kovalenko offers a glimpse of the south of the country, where thousands of people are starving
12 May 2021, Krystyna Kovalenko
Every month, WFP provides food assistance to 750,000 people in Southern Madagascar. Photo: WFP/Krystyna Kovalenko
The ‘Grand Sud’ in Madagascar looks like something out of a sci-fi film – totally dry, inhabitable and deserted. The land has suffered from several years of consecutive drought. But locals say that this year has been worse than any other.
After an abnormally long lean season, the long-awaited harvest has been made inedible by insects. Photo: WFP/Krystyna Kovalenko
Madagascar | Food insecurity and Drought – DG ECHO Daily Map | 11/05/2021
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The drought is especially affecting the Grand Sud and western Madagascar, recurrently affected by droughts (the current one is the most severe in 40 years) and by chronic food insecurity. With below-average precipitation, rising food prices and sandstorms, a sustained deterioration in food insecurity is expected.
Currently, over 1.1 million people are in high acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), with Amboasary-Sud as the most affected District.
During the projected period (from October to December 2021, corresponding to the lean season) the food situation is expected to deteriorate because of the widespread cereal crop failure, bringing the number of people in IPC Phase 3 or above to over 1.3 million, also in this case with Amboasary-Sud as the most affected District.
MADAGASCAR: UNOCHA Calls for International Intervention as Country Faces Severe Drought
By Njoki Githinji
GRAND SUD, MAY 11, 2021(CISA) – The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has reported that the humanitarian crisis in the Grand Sud which is experiencing its most acute drought in 40 years is deteriorating rapidly.
“More than 1.1 million people, or two in every five people, are severely food insecure. The situation is expected to deteriorate in the months ahead. Alarmingly, in Amboasary Atsimo district, about 75 per cent of the population is facing severe hunger, with nearly 14,000 people catastrophically food insecure (IPC 5) and in famine-like condition,” UNOCHA reported May 7.
11 May 2021 Southern Madagascar: Government and UN sound the alarm on famine risk, urge action
Photo: WFP/Krystyna Kovalenko, a child living in the Sihanamaro Commune, one of epicentres of food security crisis in the Grand Sud of Madagascar. Pressing need to upscale both food aid and agricultural livelihoods assistance to head off a worst-case scenario
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR: With each day that passes, more lives are at stake as hunger tightens its grip in southern Madagascar. This is the stark warning from two United Nations agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), as they seek to draw international attention to a humanitarian crisis that risks being invisible.
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The crisis has left more than a million people facing a year of desperate food shortages. The south of the island will produce less than half its usual harvest in the coming months because of low rains, prolonging a hunger crisis already affecting half the Grand Sud area’s population, the UN estimates. The south saw 50% of its usual rains during the October planting season, in a fourth year of drought. According to the Famine Early Warning System Network, most poor families have to rely on foraging for wild foods and leaves that are difficult to eat and can be dangerous for children and pregnant women. Aid agencies have reported people eating termites and mixing clay with tamarind. Julie Reversé, emergency coordinator in Madagascar for Médecins Sans Frontières, said: “Without rain, they will not be able to return to