Around two million people living in 17 national districts are experiencing acute food insecurity as a result of several combined factors, including the drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon, which last year affected agricultural production in various parts of the country.

The data was revealed last Thursday by the director of the Food and Nutrition Security Information Services at the SETSAN (Technical Secretariat for Food and Nutrition Security) level, António Pacheco Dias Lima, in an interview with the "Café da Manhã" program on Radio Mozambique.

According to the source, who cited the results of the post-harvest survey from the last agricultural season, the country has "1.96 million people, corresponding to 17% of the national population".

The figure represents an increase of four percent compared to the projections that had been made for the period from August to September last year, which pointed to around 1.4 million people, corresponding to around 13% of the population.

In addition, updated figures show that from the third quarter of last year to now, there has been an increase of around half a million people on the scale of severe, life-threatening food shortages.

(Photo DR)