Malnourished child in Somalia due to drought persistence
(picture by Aljazeera)
By Ollus Ndomu
Climate change is taking toll on agricultural activities across Africa. The continued crop failure and disruption in food transport, are becoming disproportionately common on the continent. According to environmental experts, one-third of the world’s droughts occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
Currently, Ethiopia and Kenya are among the worst affected countries in the last four decades. Other countries like Chad, Mozambique and South Africa are being severely impacted by torrential rains and floods.
With these climate events, food supplies and prices remain significantly vulnerable to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. This is due to inadequate resilience to climatic events, food import dependence, and little government intervention. According to the International Monetary Fund, financing, capacity development, and transfer of technology and know-how will be key to supporting the policies outlined above. With mounting debt and limits to raising taxes, countries in sub-Saharan Africa will need grants and concessional finance. Development partners can also support resilience-building research and can propagate climate and financial literacy.
