This Alarming Southern Africa Agriculture Statistic Ought to Spring Regional Leaders Into Decisive Motion

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There’s a critical drought presently affecting various nations in southern Africa. Some experiences say that is the worst drought in over 100 years. The issue is that these droughts have gotten too frequent and rising 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 confronted challenges in elevating $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 mentioned, “Southern Africa is experiencing its worst drought in a long time, forcing Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe to declare states of catastrophe. The drought resulted from the El Niño local weather phenomenon, which may change world climate patterns, deliver excessive seasonal temperatures, rainfall, or dry spells, and harm crop yields.”

The rationale for this huge shortfall and why it is going to preserve getting worse is that near 70% of the southern African inhabitants depends on rain-fed agriculture and had their harvests decimated by the shortage of adequate rainfall. 70% is extremely excessive, particularly on this altering local weather atmosphere the place irregular rainfall patterns appear to be they may change into the brand new regular. In Malawi, for instance, solely about 4% of cultivated land is below irrigation. This isn’t sustainable.

This could actually be ringing alarm bells and applications must be formulated to sort out this meals insecurity and implementation, and expedited. A deep look into sustainable irrigation applications tied to the native hydrology ought to actually be a precedence. A significant barrier to that is after all the shortage of entry to electrical energy in most rural areas of the affected nations, which might be required to energy all these irrigation schemes. Nevertheless, technological advances over the past decade have led to the value 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 techniques. Numerous progress has been made in photo voltaic and stationary storage, with rising market shares in quite a lot 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 experiences that it’s cheaper to purchase photo voltaic panels and use them to assemble fences in some locations in Europe than to make use of conventional fencing materials! A fence that additionally generates clear electrical energy — how cool is that? what could be even cooler? Numerous distributed photo voltaic powering very important irrigation initiatives to assist improve meals safety!

There must be extra urgency from regional leaders round this matter. With the appropriate 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 assist from donor organizations. They might additionally companion with native personal sector gamers and create an enabling atmosphere that may help personal sector gamers in fixing this situation.

Excessive climate patterns leading to heavy flooding or critical droughts and warmth waves are being skilled extra ceaselessly in additional locations around the globe, not simply in southern Africa, and it appears to be like 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.