The BBC's
Alastair Leithead has produced a thoughtful piece on the multiple problems facing
famine-afflicted countries in Southern Africa.
In
Zambia GM food aid was refused and has subsequently had to be replaced.
In
Zimbabwe the economy has collapsed due to misrule (it is also suspected that opposition areas are being denied urgently needed food aid).
In
Lesotho the ability of farmers and families to survive a famine has been dramatically weakened by the AIDS epidemic and
In
Malawi most the country's food stores were mistakenly sold off following poor, short-term advice from international lenders.
The report ends up concluding that "
long term planning - irrigation, development and poverty reduction - are the
only ways to prevent this from repeating itself every time the rains fail."
For more details on the needs of the
38 million people in
21 African countries currently facing famine I recommend taking a look at the
World Food Programme's country-by-country summary.