East Africa faces poor harvests after record dry season
East Africa is experiencing significant agricultural losses due to a record-breaking dry season and extreme heat. Countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda are reporting crop yields well below average, threatening food security.
Why it matters
The failure of the growing season poses a severe risk to regional food stability and the livelihoods of pastoral and farming communities.
Farmers across large parts of East Africa are facing poor harvests after a prolonged period of drought and unusually high temperatures disrupted the 2026 growing season, with some areas recording their driest conditions on record. The June to September rainfall season was “exceptionally poor in northern and western East Africa”, according to the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor. Large areas of South Sudan, southern Sudan, northern and eastern Uganda, western and north-western Kenya, and parts of Ethiopia experienced record-low rainfall. The poor rainfall has come at a critical time for farmers, reducing moisture available to crops during key stages of development. The GEOGLAM Crop Monitor says rainfall deficits of between 100mm and more than 300mm were recorded in parts of north-eastern Uganda, western and North Rift Kenya, central, eastern and northern Ethiopia, South Sudan and south-eastern Sudan. Record high temperatures have compounded the effects of the dry conditions.
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