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Staple Food Prices Rise in Southern Africa

• by Sara Gustafson

According to a new report from FEWS Net , poor households in several regions of Southern Africa have exhausted their own produced foods earlier than usual in the season due to below-average harvests. The number of households in the region experiencing IPC Crisis (Phase 3) food insecurity is expected to increase with the start of the lean season in September and October.

Crop Losses in Southern Africa due to Drought and Flooding

• by Sara Gustafson

Southern Africa faced widespread drought from the October 2018 to March 2019 rainy season, with less than 55 percent of normal rainfall totals, alerts FEWS. The 2018-2019 rainfall began a month late, triggering extended dry spells between January and March. The historically low rainfall totals affected areas of Botswana, northern Zimbabwe, eastern Namibia, southern Angola, and the surplus producing areas of northern South Africa and southern Zambia, and registered a D3 (Extreme) or a D4 (Exceptional) drought as per the United States Drought Monitor classification scale.