Mozambique says half million need food aid

Mozambique says half million need food aid
Written by Reuters
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 10:08:20 PM

MAPUTO (Reuters) - Nearly half a million people need food aid in Mozambique because food prices are high and crops have been badly hit by poor rains, the government said on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture said 450,000 people need food assistance and 150,000 face a critical situation in the southern and central areas of the country.

"The families in the affected region are getting by on one meal a day, and in addition to the lack of rain and high food prices, there is a lack of food reserves," the ministry said in a statement.

Mozambique said the late start of the rainy season, which normally begins in October, had increased the probability of prolonged drought conditions in the south until January and a food shortage into February.

The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in Mozambique last month appealed for $24 million in humanitarian assistance to victims of floods and drought.

It said there was an acute food shortage and that the government had asked the WFP to increase its humanitarian assistance in seven provinces until the next harvest in April 2009.

The central and southern provinces are still recovering from devastating floods and drought that occurred in early 2008.