Food insecurity continues to rise in Southern Africa – new SADC Report Projection puts 41 million at risk

10 July 2019, Gaborone, Botswana – According to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) 2019 Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security and Vulnerability in Southern Africa, 41.2 million people in 13 countries are estimated to be food insecure in the 2019/20 year. Comparing the 11 Member States that provided data last year, food insecurity has increased by 28 percent and is 7.4 percent higher than it was during the severe El Niño-induced drought of 2016/17.

The Report was compiled by the SADC Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis Programme from the 2019 assessments and analysis conducted by National Vulnerability Assessment Committees of Member States.

The countries with the most significant increase in food insecurity compared to last year are Zambia, with a 144 percent increase; Zimbabwe, with a 128 percent increase; Eswatini with a 90 percent increase; Mozambique, with an 85 percent increase; and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with an 80 percent increase.