Corn, sorghum and other cereal grains are selling at record prices in East Africa, where drought has shriveled crops, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. High food prices “are severely constraining food access for large numbers of households with alarming consequences for food insecurity,” said an FAO official.
Food prices have doubled in some towns, according to FAO. Affected are swaths of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. “Inadequate rainfall in most areas of the sub-region has put enormous strain on livestock and their keepers. Poor livestock body conditions due to pasture and water shortages and forcible culls mean animals command lower prices, leaving pastoralists with even less income to purchase basic foodstuffs,” it said. “Poor and erratic rainfall in recent months, crucial for local growing seasons, are denting farm output.”
At a 16-nation emergency meeting, experts warned that an invasion of armyworms was attacking food crops in southern Africa and could spread to other parts of the continent, reports Associated Press. It said South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia were among nations where the fall armyworm invaded corn fields. “The pest is devastating and so far impossible to eradicate,” said AP. The affected nations are some of the major corn producers in Africa.