At least 80,000 tonnes of maize is needed in six Southern African countries between April and June as parts of the region face the worst droughts in a decade, an aid organisation has said. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said prolonged dry spells had reduced crop output in Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe but only 27,000 tonnes was available for food aid. "The prospects for the maize crop in 2005 are generally poor and continue to deteriorate.
In central and southern Malawi, much of Mozambique, southern and central Zambia, and eastern and southern Zimbabwe, prolonged dry spells from late January to March occurred during the critical time for crop development.
"In much of Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, observers speak of crop prospects being worse than 2002 and the worst since 1992," said WFP in its latest report released on Saturday.
Aid agency Action AID said last week that at least 6 million people face food shortages this year in Zimbabwe while around two million Malawi's need food aid.
In Swaziland drought has cut crops by 30 percent while in Zimbabwe, harvesting of maize crops is in progress but most communities are reporting a meagre production, the WFP report noted.
"Stocks in April amounted to about 27,410 tonnes and the regional Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) is now operating on a hand-to-mouth basis and is extremely reliant on new donor contributions," said WFP.
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