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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Shakumbila and Rachel Savage

‘I have lost everything’: southern Africa battles hunger amid historic drought

Emmanuel Himoonga stands in a barren field surrounded by dried-out stalks – he is holding one in his hands
Emmanuel Himoonga shows the dried-out stalks of his maize crop on his farm in Zambia, which has failed in a drought. Photograph: Chiwoyu Sinyangwe/The Guardian

Emmanuel Himoonga paced his dry field, picking up stalks of maize that had been bleached almost to bone white.

The 61-year-old chief of Shakumbila, a mainly agricultural community of about 7,000 people roughly 70 miles west of Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, had seen droughts before.

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