Madagascar residents gear up for impact of El Niño

In southern Madagascar, residents are bracing themselves for the impact due in the coming months of the El Niño warming pattern, which experts expect to be the strongest on record.

The World Meteorological Organization has warned of a higher drought risk, it comes as Farmers have already noticed a drop in the quality of their crops as a result of little rain.

Bien Aimée Mampisaina, a farmer, said, "lately, it hasn't been raining much. In the past, we used to farm during the rainy season. The seasons are no longer the same at the same time of year. When it's time for us to start farming, it doesn't rain. So we're forced to farm at a time when we shouldn't be doing so, which leads to our crops deteriorating and to poor-quality seeds."

The months-long El Niño phenomenon begins in October. Another concern among farmers is that their profession is getting increasingly complicated, as water becomes more scarce.

Odile Mamenosoa , President of the Mifagnavotse Association, says, "because now there isn't much rain anymore, farming is becoming more and more difficult, but we have to make a lot of effort because we want to eat. We are obliged to request boreholes and get access to pumps and generators so that we can get by. Access to water is difficult, but we must do our best because farming is our whole life."

Parts of southern Madagascar are already scarred by famine, and climate change threatens to exacerbate food insecurity Workers for the World Food Programme are doing what they can to provide assistance for those at risk.

Mamy Razanamahefa, nutrition officer at the WFP, said "it is a centre that provides care for moderately malnourished children, so prior door-to-door screening was carried out in all the Fokontany, and the children identified as suffering from moderate acute malnutrition are then checked at the basic health centre."

International aid cuts and rising inflation triggered by the Middle East war are exacerbating the risk of severe hunger in Madagascar.