El Niño could push 50m people into acute hunger before end of next year

A maize crop affected by lack of rain in Zimbabwe. ‘The biggest food security impact, in southern Africa, will be during the 2027 to 2028 lean season,’ one expert said. Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/EPA

About 50 million people are likely to be pushed into acute hunger before the end of next year by the rapidly developing El Niño weather system, according to forecasting.

This is in addition to the hundreds of millions of people already facing dangerous levels of hunger, owing to years of drought in parts of Africa and pressure on food prices from the war in Iran.