Acute food insecurity is devastating southern and central Mozambique, with 1.1 million people facing severe hunger driven by prolonged drought and ongoing armed conflicts, humanitarian agencies have disclosed.
The Hunger Early Warning Systems Network (FewsNet) warns that food risks will persist through January 2025 in regions hammered by the El Niño weather phenomenon and violent insurgency, particularly in Cabo Delgado province.
Multiple factors contribute to the crisis, including a below-average 2024 harvest, limited income opportunities, and dramatically increased staple food prices.
These conditions have critically undermined the purchasing power of poor and very poor families.
In Gaza province, the situation is especially dire. Approximately 400,000 families require urgent food assistance, with some residents reporting they have gone up to four days without a meal.
“We’ve been without meals for four days, we’ve been hungry these days, that’s my biggest concern,” said Castigo Macovele, a 34-year-old resident of Massingir district with eight children and two wives.
Macovele and his family have resorted to desperate measures.
“We haven’t eaten anything for four days. We have to go to Dzedjefa Lagoon in search of tubers for our food,” he explained.
António Silva, 60, exemplifies the widespread agricultural devastation.
“A week without a meal, we are feeling sick,” Silva said, noting he has produced nothing on his land for three consecutive years.
The crisis has forced children to abandon education to support their families.
A 12-year-old cattle herder shared, “My mother forced me to leave school so that I can herd cattle, but I would like to go back to school, my dream is to be a teacher.”
United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) estimates that 4.8 million people in Mozambique need humanitarian assistance, requiring approximately $64 million to address immediate needs.
The government has begun limited intervention, providing food support to 400 families in Massingir and Massangena districts.
However, this represents a minimal response compared to the scale of need.
El Niño, characterised by anomalous warming of Pacific Ocean surface waters, has exacerbated drought conditions in southern Africa.
In Gaza, a predominantly semi-arid region, the weather phenomenon has decimated crop production.
Districts most severely impacted include Mapai, Chicualacuala, Massangena, Chigubo, Mabalane, Massingir, Guija, and Chibuto. Residents report consuming, at most, one meal daily.
The Mozambican government has allocated $1.4 million for seven vehicles in Gaza province.
The Secretary of State for Gaza, Lourenco Lindonde, stated these vehicles will be used to “boost agricultural production and productivity.”
In Cabo Delgado, areas receiving regular humanitarian food assistance may see some improvement, potentially advancing to a less critical phase of food insecurity.
As the lean season begins and food scarcity intensifies, the humanitarian situation remains precarious for millions of Mozambicans facing an unprecedented combination of climate and conflict-driven challenges.
The FewsNet report underscores the complexity of the crisis, noting that acute food insecurity “may persist between October 2024 and January 2025 in areas affected by drought during the 2023/2024 agricultural season and in areas affected by the armed conflict in the north of the country.”
