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As the lean season nears an end in Southern Africa , maize supplies and prices remain mixed across the region, according to the latest FEWS Net alert. In Zambia and Tanzania, maize supplies have improved slightly due to ongoing harvests; in contrast, southern Mozambique and Zimbabwe are seeing below average maize supplies due to poor 2015-2016 production levels. Maize prices are following a similar trend, with price decreases in Zambia, northern and central Mozambique, and northern Malawi and either stable or abnormally increasing prices in southern Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

FEWS Net has released a special report with a series of maps illustrating the extent and severity of the ongoing drought in southern Africa. The drought, driven by the 2015-16 El Niño cycle, has limited crop production throughout the region, worsening food insecurity during the lean season and making it likely that food insecurity will continue throughout the remainder of the year.

South Africa is in the throes of the worst drought in 30 years, according to a recent BBC article . Driven by the on-going El Niño cycle , below average rainfall and above average temperatures have limited crop development and water availability throughout the region.

Severe drought, driven by the current El Niño cycle , continues throughout Africa south of the Sahara, and South Africa is one of the countries being hardest hit. According to a new policy brief from the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), South Africa’s total rainfall in 2015 was the lowest national annual precipitation seen by the South African Weather Service since 1904.

As drought continues throughout southern Africa, the latest FEWS.net alert estimates that 2.5 million people are currently in Crisis food insecurity levels and in need of urgent humanitarian aid across Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Lesotho. The organization is also anticipating that the region’s food-insecure population in 2016-2017 will be at least two times higher than current levels.