What are the climatic reasons that affect famine in Africa?

Since 20 1 1, East Africa has suffered the worst drought in 60 years, which has triggered a terrible food crisis, and nearly 10 million people are facing life threats. The worst drought areas are Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti. More than 2 million children are malnourished and their lives are threatened, and 500,000 of them are in critical condition. In Somalia, which has been in war and anarchy for nearly 20 years, the blow brought by drought is particularly heavy. Somali farmers and herdsmen not only migrated in China, but also fled to Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen and Sudan, forming an unprecedented migration tide. The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa, located on the south bank of the Gulf of Aden, extending eastward for hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea. It is the easternmost part of the African continent, and Cape Hafeng, the easternmost part of the African continent, is also located in this area. The Horn of Africa includes Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. East Africa in a broad sense also includes Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and other countries.

Although the Horn of Africa is close to the equator, most of its land is arid and barren. The tropical monsoon with a lot of water vapor enters from the west coast of Africa, bringing abundant rainfall to north-central Africa and Sudan. Before the monsoon reaches Djibouti and Somalia, most of the water vapor has dissipated, so most countries in East Africa have little rainfall in the monsoon rainy season, and only the western and central parts of Ethiopia and the southernmost part of Eritrea have more rainfall.

In winter, affected by the dry northeast trade wind, most parts of the Horn of Africa are dry and lack of rain, and the rainfall in northern Somalia can reach 500mm only in late autumn. On the east coast, affected by the upwelling of the ocean and the northeast trade wind, the annual precipitation is only 50 mm.

There is little precipitation in most parts of East Africa, but the climate is very hot and the evaporation is huge. The coast of the Red Sea is one of the hottest places in the world. The temperature in July is usually around 465,438+0℃, and the temperature at 65,438+0 can reach 32℃. Take the port city of Berbera in northwest Somalia as an example. The average maximum temperature from June to September afternoon is 38℃.

Because of bad weather conditions and weak infrastructure, agriculture in many African countries basically depends on the weather. If the weather is favorable this year and the harvest is good, the economic growth rate will be higher. If there is a natural disaster in the next year, there will definitely be famine. The probability of drought in southern Africa and eastern Africa is high, and famine often occurs.