Emergency preparedness pays off as harvest hopes fade

Torrential rains have drowned Zambia's hopes of a fourth consecutive bumper maize harvest and there is still no sign that the rain will ease off as the country comes to grips with the extent of the damage.

"These rains have really brought misery on us; we have been reduced to beggars. All our fields are completely washed away, while others are still submerged, and we have no other means of earning a living apart from farming," Robson Taulu, from the flooded town of Sinazongwe in Southern Province, told IRIN.

Heavy downpours that began in the last week of November 2007 have swamped large areas along the banks the swollen Magoye River, washing away infrastructure and flooding many hectares of agricultural land. Southern Province was hardest hit with 6 people killed and thousands fleeing from their flooded homes.

The latest situation report on the floods in southern Africa, released on Thursday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said national authorities in the region estimated that more than 16,600 people have been affected since October 2007.

Although Zambia's Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit [DMMU] is yet to put a figure on the extent of the damage, people in flooded communities say the losses are massive.

Initial assessments in 6 districts of Southern Province by the Zambia Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZVAC), estimated that the crop losses of maize, millet and sorghum would range between 40 percent and 50 percent. The OCHA report noted, "Since this is the lean period, many households have already started to run out of food stock."

Chief Mwanachingwala, a traditional leader in Mazabuka, a town in southern Zambia, commented, "My people are only waiting helplessly for handouts from the government and aid agencies. Many goats, chickens, pigs and other livestock have disappeared and we have no information on where they could be just now. We don't know what will happen to us ... if the rains continue."

A year ago Zambia experienced widespread flooding in many of the same areas but still managed to produce a surplus of 250,000 tonnes of maize above its annual consumption of 1.2 million tonnes. Much of that surplus came from the productive central region, which was not spared this year.

Our prayer is that the rains should subside as soon as possible

"Although at this stage it is too early to assess the exact damage to crops, as some areas are still flooded and inaccessible, there is no doubt that our crop harvest will be affected. Some farmers, including large-scale farmers, have had their crops extensively damaged," Guy Robinson, president of the Zambia National Farmers Union, told IRIN. "Our prayer is that the rains should subside as soon as possible."

Concern is growing that flooding could worsen in the coming weeks: precipitation forecasts by the National Centre for Environmental Predictions indicate increased rainfall in the southern parts of the country in the next 10 days.

The authorities have indicated that the necessary resources to respond to the crisis are available. "I am assuring the nation that we have currently got 450,000 metric tonnes of maize in store, of which 150,000 tonnes belong to strategic reserves, while 50,000 tonnes is for the DMMU to draw from anytime, as they require. But after the harvest, we may have a few problems because the yields may most likely not be as favourable as they were last year," said Costain Chilala, chair of the Food Reserve Agency board.

OCHA's report said, "It [government] has already provided 15,000 metric tones of white maize to be used for relief activities in 2007/08, and will release an additional US$3.5 million for the procurement and supply of relief items such as tents, blankets, mosquito nets and chlorine."

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