The drought in the south the country is forcing the population to survive by ‘only eating locusts, eating fruits and cactus leaves,’ said WFP Communications Officer Alice Rahmoun, who said that a ‘Humanitarian crisis looms in Southern Madagascar’.

The inhabitants of the area are placing their hopes in the arrival of the rainy season which, if the panorama of previous years is repeated, could be brief and scarce and therefore insufficient to plant seeds and growing a harvest capable of providing food in suitable quantity for the population.

The crisis is the result of climate change, said the official, who assured that its impacts are becoming ‘stronger and stronger’.

‘Harvests fail constantly, so people don’t have anything to harvest and anything to renew their food stocks,’ Rahmoun said.

WFP is providing food aid to some 700,000 people and is supporting in developing a ‘more long-term response to allow local communities to be able to prepare for, respond to and recover from climate shocks better.’

pgh/llp/acl/msl