Rand Water, South Africa’s biggest water utility, has implemented water restrictions as the country’s drought continues to intensify.
Farmers are leaving in droves and land is lying fallow in the face of the worst drought in 23 years.
The weak rand and lack of rain are increasing farmers’ input costs, which will largely be passed on in the form of an increase in food prices.
Half a century of mining has polluted the water farmers living west of Welkom in the Free State rely on for their cattle and to irrigate their crops.
While the impact is looking serious for Zimbabwe, the drought could also hit southern Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia.
An eight-month-long drought in in north-east Haiti has caused the loss of two harvest seasons, says the National Co-ordination of Food Security.
Without proper and immediate planning by the government, the expected water shortage in South Africa will have disastrous consequences.
Unicef has reported that Namibians are facing the worst drought in 30 years – leaving a third of the population unsure about their next meal.
The past decade has seen the end of cheap oil, the magic growth ingredient for the global economy since World War II.
The plight of millions of people left hungry by a harsh drought across the Horn of Africa is set to worsen, a top UN official has warned.
Across the Horn of Africa, a fierce drought is forcing more than 10-million people to rely on emergency food aid, up from a forecast of six-million.
Camel’s milk, cherished by the Cushite people of Kenya, is now enjoying a renaissance in the capital Nairobi and could become internationally coveted.
Ten million people in the Horn of Africa have been hit by the worst drought in 60 years, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused Western countries of devising plans to "cause drought" in the Islamic republic.
Over 2,6-million people in Niger do not have enough to eat in the largely desert country which suffered one of its worst ever food crises in 2010.
Under the shade of a Dambi tree overlooking the green fields of southern Ethiopia, Hussein Godana is giving a cookery lesson. Of sorts.
Only nine African governments have met the target of allocating 10% of their national budget to agriculture.
Tens of thousands of animals across Niger have died in the last few months; literally starving to death.
Expensive imports and aid remain out of reach for 12-million people facing country’s worst food crisis in years.
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/ 22 January 2010
Pioneering scheme uses satellite imagery which shows when available forage is so scarce that animals are likely to starve.
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/ 3 December 2009
The Limpopo agriculture department has asked for an additional R38-million from Treasury to assist drought-affected farmers, a spokesperson said.
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/ 23 November 2009
Drought has slashed capacity at Kenya’s main dams, forcing shutdowns and leading to reliance on costly diesel-powered generators.
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/ 2 November 2009
Most of Limpopo is experiencing a severe drought, the Agriculture Department said on Monday.
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/ 29 September 2009
Drought for a fifth year running is driving more than 23-million east Africans towards severe hunger and destitution, Oxfam said on Tuesday.
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/ 23 September 2009
A huge outback dust storm swept eastern Australia and blanketed Sydney on Wednesday, disrupting transport and forcing people indoors.
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/ 10 September 2009
A drought in Kenya is so bad that it is even felling the giants of the animal kingdom — the country’s famed elephants.
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/ 9 September 2009
Drought-hit farmers in northern India are resorting to selling their wives to repay debts to local loan sharks, activists say.
In Nairobi’s posh, leafy neighbourhoods, light bulbs flicker as generators rumble to life. Gym treadmills in luxury hotels jolt to a halt.
An El Niño pattern developing in the Pacific Ocean is likely to bring drought to much of Southern Africa, hitting crop and livestock production.
A drought is threatening Iraq’s marshes just as the region was recovering from Hussein’s draining of its lakes to punish a political rebellion.
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/ 19 January 2009
Farmers suffering from the ”devastating” drought season in the Eastern Cape have been advised to approach the department of agriculture for subsidies.
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/ 30 October 2008
Developed countries are planning to cut aid to Africa due to the global financial crisis, a senior African Union (AU) commissioner said on Wednesday.