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Farhan Haq

UNITED NATIONS. – The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned the impact of El Nino on crop and livestock production prospects in Southern Africa, a UN spokesman told reporters on Tuesday.

“FAO, which warned in March 2015 that the current El Nino would be strong, has reported that it now appears to be the strongest episode in 18 years,” Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said.

“It will peak at the start of 2016, before the usual harvest time for farmers in Southern Africa.”

South Africa has already declared drought status for five provinces, its main cereal producing regions, while Lesotho has issued a drought mitigation plan and Swaziland has implemented water restrictions as reservoir levels have become low, according to a special alert released by FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS).

El Nino is a naturally occurring phenomenon characterized by the abnormal warming of sea surface temperature in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, according to FAO. It occurs every two to seven years and can last up to 18 months.

During these weather episodes, normal patterns of tropical precipitation and atmospheric circulation are disrupted, triggering extreme climate events around the globe.

“It’s the sixth week of the cropping season now and there’s not enough moisture in the soil,” said Shukri Ahmed, the FAO deputy strategic program leader. The program is known as the Resilience of the situation in southern Africa.

The likelihood of another poor season is troublesome as it comes on the heels of a poor one that has already depleted inventories, tightened supplies and pushed up local prices, FAO said.

The El Nino’s effect is also being felt elsewhere in Africa, with FAO field officers in Ethiopia reporting serious crop and livestock losses among farmers and pastoralists.

And beyond southern Africa, the GIEWS analysis of the El Nino-related conditions also points to agricultural stress in northern Australia, parts of Indonesia and a wide swathe of Central America and Brazil, according to the alert.

FAO has also issued a warning that there is an increased risk of Rift Valley fever (RVF) especially in East Africa. The RVF outbreak primarily affects sheep, goats, cattle, camels, buffaloes and antelopes, but it can also be lethal to humans.

The outbreak is closely associated with periods of El Nino-linked heavy rainfall, which bolster habitats for the mosquitoes that carry the disease. – Coastweek.