Let's Talk About It with Jenny White/The people in Africa are starving, why?

Drought, poor harvests and instability create a cycle that's extremely difficult to break. When instability persists because of conflict or political problems, people flee their homes or are unable to plant their crops. Then less food gets harvested, prices go up, and families' livelihood prospects dwindle as markets close. Violent conflict makes situations worse because humanitarian groups often cannot access affected communities to bring emergency relief.

Droughts have become more frequent an intense in recent years in western, eastern, and southern Africa. These droughts affect food production systems in fragile contexts in similar ways that conflict does. Less food and water also meams vast numbers of dead livestock in affected areas. This devastates families' source of income and food.