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

James Tshuma, a farmer in Mangwe district in southwestern Zimbabwe, stands in the middle of his dried up crop field amid a drought in 2024. Hundreds of millions of people already face dangerous levels of hunger, owing to years of drought in parts of Africa and pressure on food prices from the war in Iran. File photo: AP/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

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.