In support of the Government-led response in Zambia, the UN and humanitarian partners have launched a seven-month Humanitarian Response Plan to address rising humanitarian needs triggered by the poorest rainfall season since 1981 in the southern part of the country, which has sharply reduced cereal crop production.

The decrease in maize production was so severe that the country, normally a net cereal exporter, put a ban on maize exports. A range of livestock diseases has compounded the crisis.

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