Emergency (IPC Phase 4) food insecurity expected in the drought-affected South

High levels of acute food insecurity are expected in the South through the end of the lean season in February 2017 due to the effects of last year’s drought. In worst-affected areas, particularly in Tsihombe and parts of Beloha districts, poor households are expected to face large food consumption gaps, in line with Emergency (IPC Phase 4) food insecurity. Meanwhile, Stressed (IPC Phase 2) and Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes are expected in other southern areas. 

A recent FEWS NET/FAO/WFP rapid assessment and preliminary findings of WFP/FAO’s Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) agree that this year’s maize harvests in the districts of Bekily, Beloha, Tsihombe, Amboasary, Ambovombe and parts of Ampanihy and Betioky failed while harvests in other southern areas were well below average. Off-season production (cassava, sweet potatoes, rice) mostly failed in the districts of Beloha and Tsihombe, but these harvests are playing an important role in current food availability in other areas.

To cope, households are currently intensifying non-agricultural activities such as charcoal, water, and firewood sales, and are migrating for work at above-normal levels. In the Extreme South: cassava, maize, livestock rearing livelihood (MG 24) zone, which includes much of Androy Region, the recent FEWS NET/FAO/WFP rapid assessment also found that asset stripping was evident and that livestock herds were almost depleted. In the northern parts of Center-South Agropastoral: staple crops, industrial sisal, zebu (MG 22) and Mahafaly Plateau: cassava (MG 23) livelihood zones, however, households still have sufficiently large herd sizes that they could sell additional animals to access food, with the exception of the coastal area of the district of Itampolo and surroundings.