Harare, Zimbabwe:

Zimbabwe declared the drought a national disaster on Wednesday, with President Emmerson Mnangagwa saying the country needed $2 billion in aid to help millions of hungry people.

Severe droughts caused by the El Niño weather pattern are wreaking havoc across southern Africa.

“No Zimbabwean should succumb or die of hunger,” Mnangagwa told a news conference.

“To this end, I hereby declare a state of disaster throughout the country due to the drought caused by El Niño.”

He said more than 2.7 million people will not have enough food this year due to insufficient rainfall.

This season’s grain harvest is expected to meet more than half of the country’s food needs, he said.

A naturally occurring El Niño climate pattern emerging in mid-2023 would typically cause global temperatures to rise over the following year.

It’s currently fueling fires and record-breaking temperatures around the world.

In southern Africa, Zimbabwe is the third country after Malawi and Zambia to declare drought a national disaster.

This measure could provide more resources to respond to the crisis.

The drought has also affected electricity production as Zimbabwe is highly dependent on hydropower.

The latest El Niño was one of the five strongest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), adding that its effects will continue to intensify as greenhouse gases increase heat in the atmosphere.

The WMO said El Niño peaked in December but temperatures will remain above normal in almost all land areas until May.

The main food-growing regions of Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe received only 80% of average rainfall during the southern hemisphere summer from mid-November to February, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said, warning said food insecurity.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)