The United Nations’ food agency has warned that climate change has pushed Madagascar to the brink of famine.
The country, usually known for its rich and remarkable wildlife and vegetation, has become the first in the world to experience food shortages because of global warming, according to the World Food Programme.
The WFP said that a severe lack of rains and sandstorms, caused by deforestation, along with the Covid-19 pandemic have made it nearly impossible for farmers to grow their own food, leaving at least 1.31 million people severely food insecure.
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Since September 2020, the start of the lean season, the situation has turned critical as families depleted their food supplies and gone through vital seed stocks.
In Ambovombe, the main town in hard-hit Androy region, hundreds have been surviving without help for months.
Currently, up to 80 percent of the population in certain areas in the south are resorting to desperate survival measures, such as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves.
Aid agency works have been left stunned by the levels of malnutrition amongst children when visiting southern Madagascar.
Source: RTE
