More than 14 million at risk from hunger

Southern Africa faces a "crisis of incredible proportions" with the number of people requiring food aid eventually rising to 14.4 million, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs, James Morris, said on Monday. Preliminary findings from a new assessment coordinated by the Southern African Development Community in the region's six crisis countries, showed an additional 1.6 million people would be in need of assistance before next year's harvest, compared to the results of a similar survey in May by the Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Food Programme (WFP). The countries with the largest increase in people in need were Zimbabwe at 6.7 million (up from May's estimate of 6 million), and Zambia at 2.9 million (up from 2.3 million). "The intensity of this crisis is increasing faster than we ever anticipated," Morris told a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the end of a two-week fact-finding mission. "The human devastation of the most vulnerable people in the six countries is overwhelming." Limited supplies of maize - and people's ability to afford, or even reach it - were mainly responsible for the increased numbers. "Imports of food, both commercial and humanitarian relief, have been lower than originally projected, causing prices to soar across the board. Policy impediments on critical issues such as market liberalisation and land reform are leading to greater food insecurity, and are yet to be resolved by governments," a WFP statement said. Morris, WFP's executive director, said that the crisis had been "further exacerbated by this incredible pandemic of HIV/AIDS", which had destroyed families, undermined agricultural production and deepened poverty. "Across the six countries visited, healthcare workers universally emphasised the lethal combination of hunger and HIV - how the convergence of the two calamities sharply increases people's vulnerability to infection and disease," WFP said. Morris pointed out the emergency response in each of the crisis countries - Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland - "flows in to long term development". He pointed out that hunger had been compounded by a dependency on drought-prone maize, insufficient use of irrigation, and severe shortcomings in health, sanitation and institutional capacity. "Prospects for next year's harvest [March/April] are bleak unless small-scale farmers immediately receive adequate supplies of seeds and fertiliser in time for the planting season, just one month away. Without investment in agriculture, the region cannot hope to stabilise, let alone regain food security. And the effects of an ever-likely El Nino impact have not yet been factored in," the WFP statement said. The United Nations, in July, requested US $611 million in food and non-food support for Southern Africa. To date, WFP has confirmed 36 percent of the US $507 million for food aid, and was confident about an additional 30 percent under a final stage of negotiations. On the non-food side, however, only US $12 million had been pledged, WFP warned. "I'm optimistic we will get there, but it will require the most incredibly generous response from donors," Morris said.