With the rainy season approaching, Mozambique is getting organised. Meeting on Tuesday, November 3, the Council of Ministers approved the 2026-2027 Annual Contingency Plan, budgeted at 39.8 billion meticais, roughly $623 million. The document lists the main threats facing the country, assesses the likely impact of disasters and identifies the most vulnerable groups, before setting out prevention and humanitarian measures across several sectors. In all, 2.2 million people could need assistance.
The money, however, is not all there. According to Inocêncio Impissa, government spokesperson and Minister of State Administration, the executive currently has about 23.4 billion meticais. That sum combines resources from the Disaster Management Fund, the value of supplies held in the warehouses of the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) and contributions pledged by partners. The shortfall therefore stands at 16.4 billion meticais, nearly $256 million, or more than 41% of requirements. The authorities say they are still approaching donors to close the gap.
The scale of the effort reflects a season that looks unusually complex. Unlike last year, the country must prepare simultaneously for floods, cyclones and the effects of El Niño, which makes well below-normal rainfall likely in the south and centre. Mozambique could therefore face both flooding and drought within a single season. Memories of the last rains are still fresh: floods that began in late December 2025 affected more than 650,000 people, according to the Red Cross.
Agriculture is receiving particular attention. Addressing parliament, Planning and Development Minister Salim Valá presented a $94.7 million programme to limit El Niño’s damage to harvests. Built into the contingency plan, it targets 1,277,000 farmers, who are due to receive their inputs before planting begins. Alongside it, the government is preparing a national El Niño mitigation plan for which it intends to raise some 27 billion meticais.
The provinces are preparing too. In central Mozambique, Sofala adopted its own plan in late October, worth 43 million meticais, estimating that 439,000 residents could be hit by extreme weather. The question now is whether the funding will arrive in time, before the season puts these plans to the test.