After the floods, hunger: Mozambique’s second disaster

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that months after major floods struck Mozambique, many households in southern and central provinces are facing a second crisis: food insecurity. The article focuses on Xai-Xai in Gaza province, where farmer Joacim Pinto says floodwaters destroyed his crops, livestock, wells and garden, leaving his family dependent on food purchases they can no longer easily afford.

The floods, which ran from late December 2025 into early 2026, damaged farmland, roads and market access across several provinces, including Gaza, Maputo, Inhambane, Sofala and Zambezia. Al Jazeera cites the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as saying about 275,405 hectares of farmland were affected, with the livelihoods of roughly 314,783 farmers at risk. The World Food Programme said disrupted transport routes, lost food stocks and damaged markets have pushed up prices in affected areas.

Local traders told Al Jazeera that higher fuel and delivery costs have also forced them to raise prices on staples such as rice, flour and chicken. The report notes that the flood losses came on top of earlier drought impacts linked to the 2024–2025 El Nino pattern, limiting how much time families have had to recover between shocks.

The broader significance, according to the article, is that Mozambique’s repeated climate-related disasters are not only destroying harvests but also weakening household resilience and diets. In general terms, the story reflects a wider challenge across southern Africa, where agriculture-dependent communities are highly exposed to droughts and floods.