Mumbi Gatimu analyzes El Niño's effects on African agriculture: drier weather threatens cocoa in West Africa (flowering stress) and cotton yields, while wetter conditions in East Africa risk coffee quality and harvests. Crop impacts will be felt gradually—farmers first, then manufacturers, consumers later. Markets have started pricing risk but may not fully reflect it yet.

Lauren Rosenthal explains the El Niño weather phenomenon, its expected strength (one of the most powerful since 1950), and its likely impacts on Africa: dryness in West and Southern Africa, extra rainfall in East Africa. She notes climate change may alter traditional patterns, making outcomes less predictable.