THE African Union’s climate insurance agency will pay out at least $60 million to four southern African nations to help them offset the impact of a drought that’s been driven by the El Niño weather pattern, its director general said.
Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique will receive payments at the end of the harvesting season in a few weeks’ time, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, who leads the African Risk Capacity agency, said in an interview in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The drought has reduced the corn crop by at least three-fifths in Zimbabwe alone, and the insurance payouts will equate to a fraction of what it needed to alleviate the impact. – Bloomberg