Fall and winter
Hope this helps
Charcoal is the oldest drawing medium
A. It’s most delicate and tender if it’s fed grain.
The part of the text that relates to this does not show, but anyway the answer would be:
They were not being successful in getting results from what they had planted, so it appeared like there was not way to avoid the population from going hungry/starving.
Famine = starvation, going hungry
Inevitable = unavoidable, impossible to prevent