For several months, nearly 1.35 million people have been struggling to eat their fill in southern Madagascar. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), this could be the first famine in the world caused by climate change.
Since May, the country has been going through a dry season, as it does every year. But for several years now, this period has been transformed into a form of drought that is becoming increasingly severe, dramatically affecting agricultural crops and therefore the food resources of local populations. The Malagasy call this phenomenon kere. Poverty and malnutrition are spreading throughout the country, as people try to feed themselves as best they can.
On the situation in Madagascar, Alice Rahmoun, a WFP communications manager based in the capital city of Antananarivo, said: “In some areas, people are still able to plant something, but it is not easy at all. So they are trying to grow sweet potatoes. But in other areas, absolutely nothing is growing right now. People are surviving only eating locusts, fruit and cactus leaves. And cactus leaves are usually used for cattle; they are not for human consumption.”
Witnessing people’s difficult daily life, the Madagascar-based photographer Rijasolo criss-crossed the villages of the south in August and September 2021, for Agence France Presse (AFP). Here, Equal Times republishes some of his pictures.
Jonarson Revoria usually grows peanuts, cassava, sweet potatoes or corn. But this year he could not produce anything because of the drought. He has a small basin dug in the ground to collect rainwater, but it has not been filled since July 2021. Today his wife and daughter prepare anamafaitsy leaves for lunch, a kind of weed that they boil with a lot of salt to remove the bitterness. They have no rice to accompany this meal.
On a small plot of land next to their home totalling no more than two square metres, the two women still manage to grow some onions and tomatoes, despite the lack of rain.
For lunch, she managed to find a half-cup of beans for her and her daughter to share, but the beans are already spoilt.
The RN13 links the city of Fort-Dauphin on the south-east coast and the city of Toliara on the south-west coast. In southern Madagascar, the national roads are mostly very bad and this is a real obstacle to the economic development of the region.
The water tank was built free of charge to collect rainwater, but villagers can’t remember when this tank was last filled.
It is very difficult to find meat. Zebu meat is very rarely sold and is very expensive (almost 40,000 Ariary per kilo/US$10) because the zebu is rather reserved for exceptional events such as funerals and weddings. Chicken or goat meat is most commonly found on the market stalls of this region of Madagascar.
Since March 2021, MSF has set up a permanent presence in southern Madagascar, in Amboasary Atsimo and Ambovombe, in order to urgently help the local population. Since June 2021, MSF has also set up several mobile clinics to help treat the most serious cases of moderate and severe malnutrition.