With food prices rising and funds falling, UN seeks urgent aid for southern Africa

Struggling to feed millions of people in Southern Africa and already facing a nearly $200 million funding shortfall, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today voiced “serious concern” over soaring maize prices, which could deprive aid from all but a fraction of those who will need it.

“The warning signs are already very clear. Massive international assistance is needed but we simply cannot respond in time unless we get immediate donations,” WFP Regional Director Mike Sackett said. “By raising the alarm now we are hoping that the international community will help us to reach millions of the hungry – before they become the continent’s next group of starving.”

WFP now plans to provide food for at least 8.5 million people by the start of the lean season in December. But due to an immediate funding shortfall of $187 million for programmes in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, only a fraction of those who require assistance will receive it, the agency said.

The situation in Southern Africa is considered so serious that in early August, Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote to 27 Heads of State, the European Commission and the African Development Bank to raise the alarm for urgent funding to “avert a catastrophe.”

“The fact that prices are already rising dramatically months ahead of the lean season means that many people we assumed would be able to fend for themselves will need food aid earlier,” Mr. Sackett said. “It can take up to four months to move food to the region, so donations are needed urgently if we are to reach the neediest before the beginning of the lean season.”

Yesterday, the UN launched an $88 million flash appeal for Malawi, where some 4.2 million people – 34 per cent of the population – face acute food shortages after the worst harvest in over a decade, compounded by significant production shortfalls over the last three years caused by erratic weather, the impact of HIV/AIDS on the chronically poor and a scarcity of fertilizer, leading to exorbitant prices.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network in Malawi says the average price of maize across 15 markets in southern Malawi rose by nearly 50 per cent between April and July, with one market recording a sharp hike of 71 per cent. In central Malawi, maize prices rose by an average of 21 per cent during the same period.

Maize prices in Mozambique are mounting rapidly, up to 40 per cent higher than last year. The south harvested 43 per cent less cereals due to a prolonged dry spell and the outlook for the next harvest is also bleak, with water levels in all rivers at about 28 per cent of capacity.

In Zambia WFP has only been able to provide food assistance to about 35 per cent of vulnerable people because of a lack of funding and in Zimbabwe, prices of basic commodities are increasing, placing maize, sugar, vegetable oil and other basic commodities beyond the reach of the most vulnerable households.