Nearly 70 million people in southern Africa are suffering from the effects of an El Niño-induced drought, according to the Southern African Development Community, resulting in widespread food shortages and even forcing some families to eat grass seed.

Zambia and Zimbabwe have declared the hunger crisis a state of disaster, while Lesotho and Namibia called for humanitarian support.

In landlocked Malawi, the situation is particularly acute, with almost half the nation’s population — an…