Which southern African countries are battling drought disasters

• El Niño brings crippling drought to Southern Africa
• As malnutrition spikes, funding desperately needed
• Fear of flooding, landslides in 2025

JOHANNESBURG - Dead elephants, desperate farmers forced to eat leaves, parched fields, dying livestock and failed crops - the worst drought in decades has wreaked havoc across southern Africa where millions of people are going hungry and economies are faltering.

The unprecedented drought has been fuelled by El Niño, a climate phenomenon that can exacerbate drought or storms - weather conditions that are made more likely by climate change.

With the lean season - the period between harvests - now underway since October, farmers are desperate for the rains that normally arrive around the same month.

Five countries in the region have declared national drought disasters: Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Humanitarian groups say some farmers and their families are eating animal feed, leaves and skipping meals altogether. Smallholder farmers are responsible for 80% of agricultural production in the region.

Some 27 million people lack access to nutritious food in southern Africa and the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that $369 million is needed to help feed 6.5 million people across the region until March 2025.

Even though El Niño came to an end around May, the impact of crop failures will be felt well into 2025.

The impending La Niña weather phenomenon, which involves the cooling of ocean surface temperatures, could bring increased rainfall to southern Africa in the coming weeks, but could also cause flooding, soil erosion and landslides.

So what distinct challenges are these five countries facing, and what support is needed to avert looming famine declarations?

Zimbabwe's recurring droughts bring crop failure

Zimbabwean smallholder farmers have been ploughing parched earth following El Niño-related droughts in 2015, 2019 and 2023.

Delayed planting linked to late 2023 rains, followed by a 30-day dry spell and above-average temperatures led to crop failure in most of the country in 2024, according to the WFP.

During the lean season in early 2025, 5.9 million people in rural areas and 1.7 million people in urban areas are expected to be food insecure, according to the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee, a group of government, charities and organisations that conduct annual nutrition assessments in Zimbabwe.

The WFP and the Zimbabwean government have tapped into climate change insurance, cash transfers and food aid to urgently feed the population, with an additional $201 million needed to assist both rural and urban populations, according to the WFP.

Malawi faces drought and cyclone combo

Malawi declared a state of disaster in March after severe El Niño conditions decimated 23 of the country's 28 districts and 44% of national maize production, the WFP said.

Some 5.7 million people are facing acute food insecurity, about 20% of the population, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an initiative of U.N. agencies, regional bodies and aid groups.

This comes after the country was hit by tropical storm Ana in 2022 and cyclone Freddy in 2023, both causing infrastructure damage and job losses. The currency devalued in late 2023, inflation is soaring and the government has cut growth forecasts for this year and next.

A $62-million funding gap needs to be filled to urgently tackle moderate malnutrition which has risen by 82% in children aged between six and 59 months, according to the WFP.

Zambia battles debt and drought

Zambia has faced a host of climate change challenges, from drought, heatwaves and floods - a huge burden in a country where more than half of its 19.6 million people already live below the poverty line, according to the WFP.

Smallholder farmers are responsible for up to 90% of food production and have struggled to keep up supply.

While nearly 250,000 people were given WFP cash transfers and food distribution in October, $33.2 million net funding is still needed over the next six months, the WFP said.

Since a national drought disaster was declared in February this year, inflation has surged and the currency has fallen against the dollar, meaning state finances are stretched with little margin for responding to the drought, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Landlocked Lesotho faces imminent funding shortfalls

This landlocked mountainous, rain-dependent country of 2 million people is surrounded by South Africa and faces dogged unemployment and poverty.

It is estimated that 700,000 people, or 35% of the population, are food insecure and need humanitarian assistance.

Using a combination of cash and vouchers for diverse, local food products, the WFP says it can only continue to support 81,700 people until the end of December.

The Lesotho government needs $209.8 million for long and short-term humanitarian assistance, the WFP says.

Namibia drought leads to malnutrition crisis

In Namibia, some 1.2 million people, nearly half the population, are projected to face acute food insecurity, according to the IPC analysis.

A state of drought disaster was declared in May.

With unemployment running at 34% and crops failing, many Namibians are now dependent on emergency relief for survival, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

About 24% of children under five are showing signs of stunting linked to poor nutrition, IFRC reports.

The WFP is working with the government to roll out food vouchers, with additional vouchers for pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under five.

(Reporting by Kim Harrisberg; Editing by Jon Hemming.)