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Madagascar: Food Crisis Looms in 'Breadbasket' of Madagascar
allAfrica, 13 January 2021
Five years of drought have bludgeoned a "breadbasket" region of Madagascar and, along with the coronavirus, have disrupted local labour patterns in the south, resulting in a… Read more »
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Madagascar: Humanitarian Crisis Looms in South As Drought, Pandemic Double Number of Hungry People
WFP, 2 January 2021
Three consecutive years of drought coupled with a sharp recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic will leave a third of the population in Southern Madagascar struggling to put… Read more »
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African Development Bank (AfDB), 17 December 2020
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved a loan of UA 30 million ($42.9) million to finance the second phase of a major power transmission and… Read more »
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Madagascar: Rising Hunger in Drought-Stricken South is Forcing Families to Eat Insects - WFP
UN News, 27 November 2020
Hunger is on the rise in southern Madagascar due to consecutive years of drought, affecting half the region's population, or 1.5 million people, and forcing most families to eat… Read more »
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African Development Bank (AfDB), 30 October 2020
On Wednesday 28 October the African Development Bank approved support for Madagascar's industrial and financial sectors with a loan of €14.52 million (12.08 million UA)… Read more »
Crisis as Madagascar Breadbasket Shrinks, Drought Takes Toll
The southern region of Madagascar has been the hardest hit by drought for three consecutive years. It has been described by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) as a humanitarian catastrophe, with 1,5 million people - half the region's population - needing immediate emergency food assistance. Three straight years of drought have wiped out harvests and hampered people's access to food and Covid-19 is compounding their suffering, it says. While organisations like the African Development Bank has offered financial aid for power projects and assisted the industrial and financial sectors, the stark reality is that the WFP urgently needs funding to run malnutrition treatment programmes. This also includes emergency school feeding for 150,000 children to ensure they stay in school. Many families have resorted to eating insects, or tamarind mixed with clay, to stay alive.
The combined effects of the drought, COVID-19 and the insecurity upsurge have undermined the already fragile food security and nutrition situation of the population of southern Madagascar (file image).
