The Rural Environment Observatory (OMR), a Mozambican non-governmental organisation, warned on Tuesday of “acute hunger” and unemployment in the coming months in the southern region of the country, due to the destruction of agricultural fields and loss of livestock caused by flooding. “This means that by the end of next month we will face acute hunger problems, because at the moment the situation is still being mitigated by the modest food aid that exists, but then, in a context of Mozambique being forgotten internationally in terms of humanitarian aid, the impact will be terrible in the countryside, where the rural population depends heavily on agriculture,” João Feijó, an analyst at the Rural Environment Observatory, told Lusa. According to Feijó, in addition to affecting agricultural fields and livestock farming, the floods are also destroying the means of production in rural areas, including the means used to transport products.
“In agricultural terms, the [affected] area is enormous, and this has a huge impact because most likely people do not have flood insurance, and this is a huge loss in terms of income for people and food supply,” said Feijó, warning of a decrease in income and an increase in unemployment and precariousness in rural areas due to the impacts of the floods. The latest assessment by the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) points to 165,841 hectares of agricultural land affected, of which 73,695 hectares are considered lost, affecting 111,535 farmers, in addition to the death of 38,770 head of livestock, including cattle, goats and poultry. “A lot of livestock will have been lost in this situation.
People in these contexts are often unable to save their animals, and then there is the destruction of people’s savings and assets. Many will end up living as beggars, which will increase public insecurity and add to the issue of food prices,” said the researcher from the Rural Environment Observatory. “The coming months may be a period of severe social instability due to increased precariousness.
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Compared to the floods of 2000, the population has increased today, so the social impacts will be greater in numerical terms, in terms of destruction of property, aggravated by the fact that humanitarian aid has now moved to other areas,” João Feijó warned. The total number of deaths during the rainy season in Mozambique has risen to 112, with three people still missing and 99 injured, according to INGD data. According to the INGD database, with figures from 1 October to 19 January, already covering the current period of widespread flooding in the country, 645,781 people, equivalent to 122,863 families, have been affected so far, with 11,233 houses partially destroyed and 4,883 totally destroyed, worsening the previous balance.
The Mozambican government estimates that 40% of Gaza province is submerged due to the heavy flooding of recent days, and that several regions of Maputo are flooded, in addition to the total destruction of at least 152 kilometres of national roads. On Monday, the Mozambican authorities set up a national coordination centre, led by government spokesman Inocêncio Impissa, at Xai-Xai airport in Gaza province. Today, efforts and attempts to rescue hundreds of families who remain cut off by the floods continue, some of whom are taking refuge on rooftops, car roofs or in the treetops, mainly in Maputo and Gaza, southern Mozambique, as a result of heavy rains, which have been almost uninterrupted for several days and are forcing dams, including those in neighbouring countries, to increase their discharge significantly due to lack of capacity.
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