Chókwè floods have submerged 88% of Mozambique’s breadbasket, raising fears of famine

The floods in Mozambique have affected particularly badly the region of Chókwè, in the south, the country’s breadbasket, with the Limpopo floodplain covering 88% of the region in just a few days, swallowing up months of agricultural production, particularly rice, and threatening famine. “It is a new tragedy that cannot be compared to any other,” he emphasised, while coordinating humanitarian aid for more than 55,000 people placed in three shelters set up in the region, in Gaza province, 250 kilometres north of Maputo. And in the “breadbasket of the country,” he says, the days are filled with apprehension about the future: “Agricultural activity has been completely devastated.” In agriculture, 44,000 producers are affected, including flooded fields, houses and villages.

“This is the breadbasket of rice production. Irrigation has also been affected, because it has suffered several breaches, and this will also compromise our production. We are talking about an area of 45,750 hectares that have been completely affected in terms of production,” he explains.

On the ground, an assessment of the damage and the conditions for the population to return to some areas safely is underway. “These people will return to their neighbourhoods and partners will support them with “kits”, in this case hygiene kits, but also dignity kits or food kits for the recovery phase. This is a process, it is work that is being done,” he says.

[paywall]

Throughout the region, with refrigerators on their heads and water up to their waists, there are those who are still trying to salvage what was left behind in their hasty escape from the rising waters. “People here are suffering greatly because of the floods,” explains Ursilo Muhovo, 49, on his motorbike, which he uses to transport passengers, even in the floods.

[/paywall]