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Southern Africa faced widespread drought from the October 2018 to March 2019 rainy season, with less than 55 percent of normal rainfall totals, alerts FEWS. The 2018-2019 rainfall began a month late, triggering extended dry spells between January and March. The historically low rainfall totals affected areas of Botswana, northern Zimbabwe, eastern Namibia, southern Angola, and the surplus producing areas of northern South Africa and southern Zambia, and registered a D3 (Extreme) or a D4 (Exceptional) drought as per the United States Drought Monitor classification scale.

East Africa facing acute food insecurity as drought continues, alerts FEWS and FAO

In April 2019, the FAO Food Price Index rose 1.5 percent from March and reached its second highest level since June 2018. The increase was driven by the slight price increase in meat, dairy, vegetable oils and sugar prices. The index, however, remained 2.3 percent below March 2018 levels.

The Cereal Price Index was down 2.8 percent from March and 5 percent below its April 2018 value. The decline was pressured by large export availabilities and slowing trade.

The FAO/WFP Joint Rapid Food Security Assessment was recently released, drawing attention to the increasingly alarming food security situation in North Korea. The country faces food shortages after the worst harvest in 10 years. There is a food deficit of 1.36 million metric tons, and 10.1 million people are experiencing food insecurity.

The world’s humanitarian assistance and spending needs have more than doubled over the past decade, growing by around 127 percent. Around 40 percent of that went to the food and agriculture sectors. Those needs have intensified over the past few years, as conflict and climate shocks have combined to increase the number of people worldwide who require humanitarian aid to fulfill basic daily food needs.