JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- With December ushering in the 2024/2025 summer crop planting season, Derek Mathews was cautious about the task. The scar of the disastrous 2023/2024 harvest season remained raw as El Nino's devastating effects wiped out 70 percent of his produce.

Mathews, a 63-year-old farmer from Lichtenburg in the North West Province of South Africa, said this year's El Nino-induced drought was "very bad," which caused his maize, soybean, and sorghum crops to fail completely, with losses running into millions of rands.

Under the drought spell, the Southern African region has experienced its driest February in 100 years, with rainfall reaching only 20 percent of the usual levels.

Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, said that South Africa's maize production was down over 22 percent year-on-year, while countries such as Zambia and Zimbabwe lost half of their crops.

Data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs showed that Zambia was among the hardest hit, with over 9 million people affected by the dry spell. Over 7 million people in Zimbabwe were threatened with acute hunger after El Nino decimated over half of the country's crops.

Fadzayi Matare, a farmer from Harare, Zimbabwe, said that despite the arrival of the crop planting season in November, the rain has so far been inadequate.

The drought has forced communities to find ways to survive. "Some people rely on food aid from the government, but it's very little and only comes once or twice a year," said Matare, adding that those who live close to the border are now purchasing maize from South Africa.

With five years of farming experience in the northeastern town of Mazowe, about 30 km north of Harare, Zimbabwean farmer Simon Mhonda revealed that the 2023/2024 season had been devastating for farmers like him.

"I only salvaged two tonnes of maize during the harvest season. We farmers are now in desperate need of government assistance," Mhonda said.

Although planting was underway across the region in December, the impact of the drought was expected to persist and worsen, particularly from early 2025 through April.

"There will be poverty challenges and food insecurity in the coming year for much of the Southern African countries, and escalating food prices will put more pressure on communities," said Sihlobo.

Bill Moseley, professor of geography and director of the Food, Agriculture and Society Program at Macalester College, a U.S. college, said short-term measures are critical for farmers, calling on governments and international organizations to release national food security stocks to "moderate food prices."

Moseley noted that farmers should be encouraged to diversify the food crops they grow.

"Southern Africa is now highly dominated by maize mono-crops that are highly vulnerable to drought. This is because maize open-pollinates during a 2-3 week period in the growing season, and if this coincides with drought, maize yields will decline precipitously," Moseley said.

Additionally, the professor observed that maize monocropping often creates labor bottlenecks at certain points in the farming season, as everyone must plant or harvest at the same time.

By cultivating a diverse mix of crops, it will not only be more resilient to fluctuating rainfall but also help distribute labor demands more evenly throughout the season, he added. ■