FAMINE OF CHILDREN IN MADAGASCAR

Half a million children under five will suffer from acute malnutrition in exceptionally drought-stricken southern Madagascar, the World Food Program (WFP) and Unicef warned on Monday, July 26, 2021.

Children suffering from acute malnutrition will be four times more numerous, compared to the previous assessment in October 2020, warn these UN agencies in a statement, with "irreversible consequences for their growth and development"

“What is currently happening in southern Madagascar is heartbreaking, we cannot turn our backs on these children,” said Moumini Ouedraogo, WFP representative in Madagascar, calling for “redouble efforts” to raise the necessary funds. .

More than a million Malagasy affected

More than 1.14 million Malagasy people, in a vast area like Bulgaria or Cuba (111,200 km2), suffer from hunger.

Some 14,000 Malagasy have already reached level five, the “disaster phase, when people have nothing to eat” and this number could double by October.

The hardest hit region, around Ambovombe-Androy, where global acute malnutrition reaches 27%, "risks experiencing famine if urgent measures are not taken," the statement further warns. However, it is impossible to give a quantified assessment of the number of victims, the authorities not communicating on the subject.

Leather as food

When begging and food waste are no longer enough, many residents are reduced to eating scraps of leather donated by sandal makers

A video by Gail Borgia, a Madagascan journalist, showing a family feeding on zebu skin touched the web. “Message to our dear and handsome president: do you know that some inhabitants eat the soles of zebu leather sandals (yes you read that correctly) because they are starving? They collect the waste from the shoemakers and cook them in water and salt. Or grill them, but it's very, very hard to swallow. I thought I had hit rock bottom but here we are still digging. It is real and it is in 2021. I go from astonishment to astonishment… ”, she wrote on Facebook.

Immediately these images which were broadcast in the newspapers of France24 and TV5Monde were contested by the executive. The governor of the region of Androy, like the former director of communication of the Presidency, Rinah Rakotomanga, denounced a rude manipulation, writes Madagascar-Tribune.

Devastation linked to global warming

The main cause of famine and food problems affecting Madagascar is linked to local climatic conditions. The scarcity of rains for four years has made farming almost impossible. In addition, sandstorms have turned large areas of exploitable land into wasteland. This devastation, linked to global warming according to the UN, is causing the worst drought in 40 years, deplores Amnesty International.

"Three consecutive years of drought have seriously damaged harvests and access to food, in a context today marked by the Covid-19 pandemic", also underlines the organization Doctors Without Borders, which intervenes in the country. "Drastic drops in production of the order of 40 to 60% compared to the average of the last five years" have affected the main crops of the island such as rice, maize or cassava, recalled on April 30 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The scarcity of staple foods in the markets is also causing prices to soar, UN agencies point out, recalling that they have been working with the government since last year to deal with this famine.

The lack of infrastructure involved

This human catastrophe is aggravated by "weak health structures and limited access to water". Particularly serious this year, the famine phenomenon is indeed not new in Madagascar. The Big Island has known at least 16 food crises since 1896. Beyond the climatic conditions, it is also the isolation of many villages in the south of the country that worsens the situation. Some hamlets are "a day's walk" from the nearest health center, denounces in particular Doctors of the World. A large plan of "141 major projects"was presented by the President of the Republic, Andry Rajoelina, and includes work in the sectors of agriculture and access to water. He also announced on Twitter on July 21 the signing of four agreements with the World Bank. Among the funds allocated to the island, nearly 170 million euros are dedicated to the development of road infrastructure to get the villages out of isolation.