This Alarming Southern Africa Agriculture Statistic Should Spring Regional Leaders Into Decisive Action

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There’s a severe drought presently affecting a lot of nations in southern Africa. Some studies say that is the worst drought in over 100 years. The issue is that these droughts have gotten too frequent and growing in severity, it seems. I learn an article this week from an area information group which reported that the U.N. World Meals Programme has faced challenges in raising $400 million for its southern Africa drought response. The company has collected simply one-fifth of what it wants to assist seven nations within the area. That article additionally contained a really alarming statistic that ought to actually be giving regional leaders sleepless nights.

The article stated, “Southern Africa is experiencing its worst drought in decades, forcing Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe to declare states of disaster. The drought resulted from the El Niño climate phenomenon, which can change world weather patterns, bring extreme seasonal temperatures, rainfall, or dry spells, and hurt crop yields.”

The rationale for this huge shortfall and why it’ll maintain getting worse is that near 70% of the southern African inhabitants depends on rain-fed agriculture and had their harvests decimated by the dearth of enough rainfall. 70% is extremely excessive, particularly on this altering local weather setting the place irregular rainfall patterns seem like they may change into the brand new regular. In Malawi, for example, only about 4% of cultivated land is under irrigation. This isn’t sustainable.

This could actually be ringing alarm bells and packages needs to be formulated to sort out this meals insecurity and implementation, and expedited. A deep look into sustainable irrigation packages tied to the native hydrology ought to actually be a precedence. A serious barrier to that is after all the dearth of entry to electrical energy in most rural areas of the affected nations, which might be required to energy all these irrigation schemes. Nonetheless, technological advances during the last decade have led to the worth of photo voltaic panels and related stability of system to drop tremendously.

What all this implies is that there has by no means been a greater time to get good worth from distributed photo voltaic PV methods. Plenty of progress has been made in photo voltaic and stationary storage, with rising market shares in a number of nations within the developed world. Customers now have entry to photo voltaic panels, batteries, and EVs at costs decrease than ever. Photo voltaic panel costs are so low now that we now hear studies that it’s cheaper to buy solar panels and use them to construct fences in some places in Europe than to use traditional fencing material! A fence that additionally generates clear electrical energy — how cool is that? You recognize what could be even cooler? Plenty of distributed photo voltaic powering very important irrigation initiatives to assist enhance meals safety!

There must be extra urgency from regional leaders round this matter. With the fitting prioritization of assets, these nations might begin to make good inroads into fixing this situation even from native assets with out essentially having to look to exterior help from donor organizations. They may additionally associate with native personal sector gamers and create an enabling setting that can help personal sector gamers in fixing this situation.

Excessive climate patterns leading to heavy flooding or severe droughts and warmth waves are being skilled extra incessantly in additional locations all over the world, not simply in southern Africa, and it seems like these extremes might change into an actual long-term menace to livelihoods. There actually must be pressing motion from regional leaders in southern Africa on this dire state of affairs the place relying totally on rain-fed agriculture places the area in such a precarious meals safety state of affairs.