THE HUNGER CRISIS IN AFRICA

The Africa Hunger Alert campaign, launch date 16 December, is a global response to grass-root efforts to help more than 38 million victims of the vast hunger crisis gripping the African continent.

From the US and Canada to Europe and the Far East, spontaneous initiatives are springing up across the world in schools, colleges and community groups : vigils for the hungry, fund-raising events, letters to national governments - urging action.

Over the next three months, this special section of the WFP web site will support the global campaign, providing information on the emergency and explaining how you can make a difference.

A special 'Africa Hunger Alert' bulletin board will keep you up-to-date on the campaign's progress.

Since last April's peace agreement finally brought a halt to Angola's three decade-long civil conflict, humanitarian organisations have gained access to hundreds of thousands of malnourished people who have been hiding in the countryside for past four years, beyond the reach of aid groups.

WFP's own operations in the country are expanding rapidly to meet the extra needs. Already the agency is feeding some 1.8 million people, up from one million at the beginning of 2002.

With Angolan refugees also returning spontaneously from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, over 1.9 million people are expected to be relying on WFP food assistance by the end of 2002.

It is the first time in more than 30 years that more Angolans are heading home than fleeing their villages. WFP is helping these people as well as providing food aid to the so-called 'quartering areas' set-up for ex-UNITA fighters and their families.

Eritrea is facing its worst crop failure since independence in 1993. A prolonged drought has seriously affected food production, putting one million people at risk - about one third of the total population of 3.3 million.

Rainfall has been poor since October 2001, with the almost total failure of the March-June azmera rains, and the late onset of June- September kremti rains, threatening the food security of thousands of farmers and pastoralists who make up most of the country's workforce.

Regions worst hit by by drought and food shortages are the Northern Red Sea, Southern Red Sea and many parts of Anseba.

The cereal harvest - forecast at 74,000 metric tons - is expected to be 60 percent below the average of the last decade and will cover only about 15 percent of Eritrea's food requirement.

To assist some 900,000 of the most vulnerable people, WFP will need to mobilise 140,000 tonnes of food in 2003 from international donors and raise US$45 million.

Eritrea is already ecovering from a devastating border war with neighbouring Ethiopia.A large number of people, including farmers, are still displaced and thousands of soldiers are yet to be demobilised.

The continuing resettlement of Eritrean refugees returning from Sudan is an extra strain on the country's resources.

The conflict also rendered unusable an estimated 12,000 hectares in Debub and most of the sub-region of Lalai Gash in Gash Barka because of unexploded landmines.

Due to the conflict, over one million people in the grain producing regions of Gash Barka and Debub were displaced and most are suffering low food production due to security and drought.

Conscription has caused an absence of younger men engaged in agricultural activities which is worsening the situation for households.

Exceptionally dry weather resulting from the partial failure of the "Belg" rains (February to May) and the late start of the main "Meher" rains (June to September) has caused serious food shortages in Ethiopia.

For 2003, the number of people affected by the drought and in need of food assistance is expected to rise to between 10 and 14 million by mid-year. This would be substantially higher than the peak of 7 million in July 2002.

The national relief food needs are expected to be between 1.5 million and 2 million tonnes in 2003.

Due to drought and erratic rainfall, many farmers have lost their maize and sorghum crops -- staple foods for most rural people, accounting for over 40 percent of the total cereal production in Ethiopia.

One-fifth of livestock, cattle, sheep and goats have already been lost in some districts, with the drought reducing the availability of both pasture areas and water. Water shortages are expected to reach critical levels in early 2003.

Where food assistance is not available, drought-affected farmers & herders are forced to use ever more desperate coping mechanisms such as selling off their belongings to buy food.

Stress-induced migration has occurred in the affected areas and will increase further if food distributions are inadequate.

Nutritional status is already at unacceptable levels in some parts of the country, with high levels of moderate and severe malnutrition being found among children under five.

In Lesotho, a second year of severe weather, including heavy rainfall, frost, hailstorms and tornadoes, has contributed to another poor cereal harvest - 60 percent lower than in normal years.

Some 650,000 people are estimated to require emergency food aid throughout the country, particularly in Qacha's Nek, Quthing and Mohale's Hoek, and the Government declared a state of famine in April.

Most rural households own livestock, but rising theft within villages and across borders has taken its toll -- livestock provide a vital source of cash to buy food when agricultural production is low.

According to a FAO/WFP report, "agriculture faces a catastrophic future; crop production is declining and could cease altogether over large tracts of Lesotho if steps are not taken."

Long dry spells combined with a depletion of national grain reserves contributed to food shortages in Malawi in late 2001. As a reult harvests were consumed as early as January.

With abnormally high malnutrition among young children and women, desperation set in and survival strategies such as skipping meals and eating occasionally poisonous wild roots were widely reported.

Goats and chickens were sold at throw-away prices to buy food. The theft of maize and cassava was rampant.

With Malawi's maize production (currently estimated at 1.5 million metric tons) 10 percent less than last year's already poor harvest, food shortages remain critical.

An increasing number of cases of malnutrition particularly among children, and some cases of deaths due to hunger-related diseases, are being reported by the district hospitals.

According to a FAO/WFP report, although the cereal deficit is mitigated slightly by increased production of roots and tubers, 277,000 tonnes of cereal imports and 208,000 tonnes of food aid will still be required.

Around 590,000 people in southern and central regions of Mozambique require international food aid.

Crop assessment missions carried out in May and September 2001 in all provinces of Mozambique, except Cabo Delgado, concluded that over one third of the country's total number of districts produced less food in 2001 than on average.

The fact that most of these districts already needed emergency assistance due to flooding and localised dry spells, as well as a general rise in the price of the main staple foods, has aggravated the current food status of the poorest families.

The normal coping mechanisms of many families have disappeared, and they have resorted to selling off their few remaining assets in order to buy food, which is more expensive than usual.

After almost two decades of armed conflict, some 2.9 million Sudanese are dependent on aid for survival.

Now, recurrent drought is further aggravating the country's already fragile food security.

Emergency food aid is urgently needed in the drought-hit states of Red Sea, Darfur & Kordofan - each stricken by three successive years of drought, which have exhausted the population's coping mechanisms.

Even where there is relatively good food production, insecurity & a weak marketing system restrict the cost-effective movement of goods into hunger zones.

The agreement just signed between the Government of Sudan and SPLM/A to cease hostilities will allow humanitarian organisations unimpeded access to crisis areas. This is expected to exacerbate the need for extra resources to support populations previously trapped by the conflict, beyond the reach of relief aid.

In Swaziland, a second year of erratic weather with dry spells affecting crops during their critical flowering stage, has reduced production, in particular in the dry Middleveld, Lowveld and Lubombo Plateau.

The combination of poor production from 2000/01, a severe reduction in household agricultural production, a contraction in agricultural wage labour opportunities and rising prices have made a substantial percentage of the chronically poor and hungry households food insecure for a portion of the year.

Alarm signs: school attendance has dropped significantly, rising cost of wheat and maize, 40 percent unemployment, HIV/AIDS affects 20-30 percent of the population.

More than half a million people in five countries Ð Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Cape Verde and Mali are on the frontline of a drought.

Average rainfall recorded up to September was lower than the normal rainfall between 1971- 2000. The region has a history of serious droughts, including 1972-1974 and 1984-1985.

In September, Mauritania and The Gambia declared national disasters and appealed for emergency food aid.

Pending harvest figures, it is clear that Mauritania, Senegal and - to a lesser extent -The Gambia will face serious food shortages in the coming months.

The situation in Mauritania is particularly serious. Some 420,000 of the country's 2.7 million people are already affected by food shortages. A recent UNICEF rapid survey among 10,000 children in the Aftout region revealed 18% of severe malnutrition and 38% of moderate malnutrition.

In some regions, people are living on the brink of starvation (Trarza, Assaba, Brakna and Gorgol). Evidence of malnutrition includes exhaustion and loss of weight, night blindness, dehydration, diarrhoea and hunger-related deaths.

WFP teams report that the traditional maize belt of Zambia has been hard hit by a severe lack of rain, dashing prospects of a favourable harvest. It is Zambia's second consecutive year of reduced harvest.

Many people have resorted to eating immature, green maize to survive. Others go hungry. It is estimated that about 2.9 million Zambians will need 174,383 metric tons of emergency food aid by the end of 2002, Although WFP has some food stocks in Zambia, the Government has rejected these due to possible bio-tech content.

In Zambia, major variations in rainfall, combined with a lack of irrigation, often cause polarized climatic conditions such as concurrent floods and drought.

Even when the rural hungry can afford to buy food, Zambia's low population density means they have to make an exhausting journey on foot over tens of kilometres just to reach the marketplace

The 20 percent rate of HIV/AIDS is stopping thousands of young people working in the fields.

Zimbabwe, normally a food surplus country, has seen a sharp deterioration in food security due to a combination of factors: erratic rainfall preceded by widespread flooding; a steep economic downturn combined with equally sharp rises in staple food prices; disruption to the commercial farming sector due to land acquisition activities.

The longest dry spell in 20 years has made the food situation especially dire; this is compounded by the huge fall in maize production by commercial farmers whose yield is normally five times greater than that of small landholders.

The national cereal deficit is a staggering 1.5 million metric tons, even taking into account anticipated commercial imports and food aid.

At the peak of the crisis, some 6.7 million people will need food aid, both in rural and urban areas.

Continuing hyperinflation and widespread job losses in agriculture and related industries are rendering large groups of people highly vulnerable.

Already many Zimbabweans eat only one meal a day, or even go an entire day without food. What little grain many rural families managed to harvest last year was consumed long ago. The situation in towns is also becoming worse.

The ability to buy food on the market is hampered by rising prices and limited opportunities to either earn cash through casual labour, or receive remittances from family or friends who work in urban areas or in South Africa.

Um, I'm not feeling very compassionate about this. I realize their are starving people in the world. I also realize there are people in this world that believes that America should pay to feed them. So? I will do the world a favor and make sure my kids are well fed and won't be needing any assistance from Kofi Annan or any of the other miserable UN agencies. How about that for compassion?

Boy isn't that a nice mild spin...

No matter how much aid we send, no matter how much food we deliver, no matter how much we want to help these people their goverment will not permit us to. These people will die as a sacrifice upon the alter of Socialism. There is nothing we can do about it outside of removing the Socialists and installing a Constitutional Republic style government and distribute aid via armed forces.

Any other way and the goods will end up in storage and enrich Swiss bank accounts.

Look for increases in prices for maize in North America.

While worldwide maize production is about even, US maize production is down and there is an increased demand for famine releif cereals, of which maize plays a major part, and the WFP gets the majority of its relief supplies from the US.

Mugabee putting aid items of food and medicine on the black market and the blacks killing off white farmers and decimating the land, the farms that fed them, are the real problem, in Zimbabwe. Until Mugabee is chasedout there is no hope for these people.

But everything's the fault of American capitalism. If our system weren't so productive, the squalor of third world socialist cesspools, by comparison, wouldn't seem quite so bad.

The way this is done will only make the situation only worse. These aid organizations need to teach these people how to farm using modern agriculture and they need to install modern irrigation systems from Israel to help stave off future droughts.

Sooner or later, we're all going to have to accept the fact that famine in the third world is the direct result of American capitalism.

Personally I blame the butterfly ballots and all those people who accidentally voted for Buchanan. Gore would have saved all of them! It was a conspiracy you know.../chew-it-back sarcasm

We need only follow the model of our Canadian brothers and sisters who, against all odds, have overcome the natural bounty which the Lord bestowed upon their land and have selflessly dedicated themselves to establishing a model third world economy.

Any other way and the goods will end up in storage and enrich Swiss bank accounts.

The appropriately named Nepad people make a show of demanding *responsible* government, when everyone knows that the problem in Africa is bad government headed by dictators. In Zimbabwe, they give formerly very productive farms to Zanu PF dolts that don't know squat about farming. The idiots have turned the land into a desert, and what the *soldiers* are doing to the formerly protected animals is a sin. The UN couldn't care less because Kofi is a black African racist. He'll let the whole continent starve before he argues against a black African dictator. Now that is racism.

Who is it that I always hear saying: "Whatever it is you subsidize you will always get more of"??

Subsidize milk and you get more milk, butter and cheese than anyone can ever consume. Subsidize pork and you get more pigs than mosquitos in a swamp. Subsidize the homeless, the poor or welfare recipients and they increase and on it goes...

As for hunger in Africa, I believe most is caused by war of some sort or another.
I just watched Black Hawk Down and that sums up a lot of African countries. The Muslim African countries hate us more than they want our help of food.
We can't help feed the Southern Christian Sudanese unless we wipe out the Northern Islamic Front. I don't think we can afford to go there right now.

I just watched Black Hawk Down and that sums up a lot of African countries.

A rather sobering book and then movie. It is incredibly painful to watch mass millions of people starve to death, but what is the answer?

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