Southern Africa will likely need some 600-700,000 tonnes of food aid from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) between July 2005 and June 2006, senior WFP officials said late on Thursday. Poor rain in February and March has left some seven million people needing food aid across the region, officials told Reuters on a field visit to Malawi - prompting the agency to look at scaling up food deliveries from 150,000 tonnes in 2004/5. "What WFP is looking at is from about 150,000 tonnes this year to something like 600,000-700,000 from crop year 05/06," WFP regional director for Southern Africa Mike Sackett told Reuters in an interview.
Earlier in the month, the WFP had said it would be looking at buying around 500,000 tonnes - mostly from South Africa - to help deal with a two million tonne shortfall across the region. Officials say assessment reports due in the next few weeks would clarify demand further. Some 60 percent of the tonnage would likely be grains, predominantly maize, southern Africa regional director Mike Sackett said.