Major intervention needed to prevent humanitarian disaster
Rural farmers in Southern Africa have been impacted by catastrophic changes in weather
It’s hard to comprehend that a weather event thousands of miles away impacts rural farmers in Southern Africa. But it does, and over recent months this impact has been catastrophic. Without major intervention early in 2025, millions of people – especially children – will face ‘Crisis’ levels of hunger.[*]
The El Niño weather cycle, which can cause extremes of both drought and wet weather, has had a devastating effect on crop planting and harvesting across Southern Africa over the last three years. In October 2024, a third successive seasonal planting window was disrupted by unusually high temperatures and lack of rain. For rural subsistence farmers working their own smallholdings, this is a catastrophic situation. Not only do their crops fail to thrive leaving little to harvest but food becomes scarce and so, more expensive. For example, the cost of maize and cooking oil has doubled in the last year.
The issues facing farmers go beyond poor harvests and rising food costs, too. In Malawi, the cost of fertiliser has risen from MK70,000 (in the 2023 growing season), to more than MK115,000 in 2024 making it impossible for many families to afford. Given the 2024 sowing conditions, the next harvest season in April/May 2025, is also likely to be meagre.
Countries that have already declared drought disasters include Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Others in the region, including Mozambique where we recently established a school feeding programme, are also severely affected.
Impact in Malawi
Angela Chipeta-Khonje is Country Director for Mary’s Meals in Malawi, where the global school feeding charity serves more than a million children every school day. She explains why this current drought cycle is having such a serious impact. “Successive crop failure puts enormous pressure on rural farmers and their families,” she says. “Across Southern Africa, an estimated 21 million children are currently malnourished[*] and we can see there is risk of a full-scale humanitarian disaster. Disruptive weather patterns, including extreme temperatures, unprecedented drought, and flash flooding, are felt deeply in this region because there are so many smallholder farmers relying on rain-fed agriculture for their survival. The situation has hit crop and livestock production, causing food shortages and damaging the economy.
“Here in Malawi, we are seeing acute need across the regions where we work. We know that families have very little to get them through to the next harvest, and we anticipate the 2025 harvest will be very lean. The Mary’s Meals school feeding model – feeding children in their place of education every school day – helps to support families in these difficult times through the assurance of a nutritious meal for their child or children, making limited family rations stretch further.”
Impact in Zambia
In Zambia, the drought situation is causing widespread disruption at national and family levels. Mary’s Meals’ Country Director Panji Kajani has first-hand experience of this. He says: “In Zambia, like much of Southern Africa, we rely heavily on hydro-electricity. With river levels low and reservoirs at less than a third of their capacity, we are all subject to electricity rationing. This affects everyone from small businesses and large industrial operations to individual families in towns who can no longer rely on refrigeration. Operations like our head office in Chapata have to rely on generators, pushing up the price of fuel and causing shortages. Food prices are also pushed up and everyone is feeling the impact. We know that it will take at least three years of ‘normal’ rainfall to replenish the rivers and reservoirs; the torrential rainfall from cyclones and tropical storms simply washes away emerging crops and does little to help ground water levels.
“For rural communities, the impact is even more acute. We know of many families who would usually harvest 20 bags of maize from their plot, who have just five bags to last their family until the next harvest. Knowing that some of their children will receive a meal at school makes the difference between that grain running out in January or lasting until March.”
The promise of a daily meal served in school is a lifeline to families with dwindling food stocks and also helps to promote access to education in places where poverty and hunger are significant barriers to learning.
Malalu Mulundika, Minister for School Health and Nutrition, Government of Zambia
“We know that school feeding reduces drop-out rates, increases attendance, and improves learner wellbeing. Mary's Meals is predominantly in Eastern Province [in Zambia] and this has for a long time been doing very well in terms of examination results. So, school feeding could well be a contributing a contributing factor.”
The need has never been greater
The need to reach more children at school has never been greater across Southern Africa. The Mary’s Meals school feeding programme prioritises areas where children and their families need the reassurance of consistent feeding, and aims to stay until the programme is no longer needed. Communities have ownership of the local operation, organising rotas of volunteers to cook and serve the food, keeping supplies secure, and making weekly reports to their allocated Mary’s Meallas school feeding officer.
Mary’s Meals CEO and Founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow says: “We need to expand school feeding as fast as possible into areas of acute need across Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Our programme is owned by and embedded in local communities, equipping them to provide vital school meals for their children in an effective and sustainable way. We know school feeding works and we know our programme is scalable. With your urgent help, we can work quickly to reach many thousands more vulnerable children with much-needed meals while they learn.”
Our vision is that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education, and it is our desire to do all we can to help reach the next child waiting for Mary’s Meals. With so many children across Southern Africa in critical need, this work and its impact – along with every small people do in support of Mary’s Meals – are more important than ever.
Key facts
- 21 million children across Southern Africa are currently malnourished
- The current drought cycle is being described as a ‘once in 100 years’ event
- Major intervention is needed NOW to prevent a humanitarian disaster
- Mary’s Meals, with your help, can scale up rapidly to reach many thousands of vulnerable children in their place of education across Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique