This advocacy paper was originally written as part of my International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance with Fordham University.
By Loliwe Phiri
Over six million people in Zambia are facing severe food shortages due to the impact of Climate Change (Oxfam, 2024). The country is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis resulting from climate change impacts, with more frequent droughts, floods, and heat waves. These disaster risks are affecting Zambia’s poorest communities, especially in rural areas that rely on rain fed agriculture. Such extreme weather events are impacting negatively on the productivity of the agriculture sector which is witnessing a deterioration in food and nutrition security with increasing severity and prevalence of food insecurity (ReliefWeb, 2024).
Zambia with its fertile lands could be a ‘breadbasket' that its regional neighbours can rely on, but its heavy dependence on rainfed agriculture has currently rendered stocking up food reserves a challenge (WFP, 2024). The impacts of the droughts have devastated smallholder farmers in Zambia who contribute to Zambia’s food production. The drought has affected about 1 million hectares of the 2.2 million hectares cultivated in the 2023/2024 agriculture season. An estimated 1 million farming households in 84 districts across eight provinces, which include Central, Copperbelt, Eastern, Lusaka, Muchinga, Northwestern, Southern and Western provinces, are among the affected populations. These provinces produce over 60 per cent of the food consumed in Zambia and have experienced significant rainfall deficits that have negatively affected production (African Development Bank, 2024).
The expected rainfall season, which is between October and December, was delayed thus resulting in a total of 982,765 hectares out of an estimated 2,272,931 hectares of maize planted being destroyed by the drought(ibid). Since maize is Zambia’s number one staple food, the price of a bag of maize has risen due to the existing drought. The average cost of a 50-kilogram bag of maize grain is now ZMW 517 (USD 22). Thus, because of maize prices and failed harvest, the prevalence of malnutrition has equally increased. This has further resulted in about 35 per cent of children under five years being stunted and 4% of children under five years being acutely malnourished (ReliefWeb, 2024).
Why should Zambia’s Climate Crisis and food shortage emergency matter?
The following story of Ms Bulele is the reality of many Zambians living in the rural parts of Zambia:
“Ms. Bulele Hailing from Nakonga Village works tirelessly as the breadwinner of her female-headed household, supporting a family of seven through subsistence agriculture.
"My life depends solely on farming," she explains.
"It's only through selling my crops that I can not only provide food for my family, but also provide food for my children's educational needs. Without farming, they would have no choice but to drop out, and we would have nothing at all to eat."(ReliefWeb, 2024).
Because climate change is a threat to the human race’s survival, it is impacting lives globally and food insecurity is an issue that can devastate and create instability in a country. A hungry population can increase malnutrition among children, increase nutrition-related health problems among adults, lead to difficulty concentrating, theft and robberies, create unsafe communities to live in, social and economic development, migration and destabilise the Southern region of Africa with food insecurity. The trickle-down effect can be devastating. Therefore, we all have a role to play in making a difference to support the pre-current situation of food insecurity in Zambia. In February 2024, Hakainde Hichilema, the President of the Republic of Zambia declared a state of emergency concerning the worst drought situation Zambia has ever experienced and asked for International support on CNN Television, signalling how dire the situation is.
Hence, the appeal here is for Governments, International Organizations and individuals to invest in Zambia’s economy by investing in sustainable agriculture and water management practices such as drip irrigation methods to take away the heavy reliance on rainfed agriculture. Advocate for climate action by making demands for world leaders to prioritize policies that are aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the impacts of Climate change and providing emergency aid and support to areas greatly affected in the country. In addition, the food shortage and hunger situation in Zambia is an emergency, and the number of people facing severe food insecurity is estimated to increase exponentially. The chances of this food shortage crisis are highly likely to continue until the next harvest in April 2025, unless immediate action is taken.
Based on the above, it's clear that a comprehensive response is urgently needed, starting with immediate to medium-term interventions to support agricultural inputs such as boreholes for irrigation, as well as long-term resilience-building strategies like climate-smart interventions which are very important to mitigate the effects of the drought and enhance household livelihoods.
