Close to 200,000 in need of food aid

The World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday said close to 200,000 people in southern Madagascar were facing serious food shortages due to a severe drought and the aftershocks of the recent political crisis. WFP's Country Director for Madagascar, Bodo Henze, said: "We have identified 13 communities in the southernmost province of Toliary in need of urgent food assistance. "The areas most affected in the province are traditionally drought prone but it is particularly bad this year because many of them have not recovered from previous droughts." Also, the recent political dispute, which ended in July, had pushed up the price of basic foodstuffs. "The already weak coping mechanisms of the poor were eroded during the political crisis leaving them extremely vulnerable. The prices of basic commodities had increased and as yet they have not come down, making it difficult for the poor," Henze told IRIN. At the height of the crisis, the cost of rice rose by 375 percent, pushing it beyond the reach of many families. The food agency said it was hoping to provide 3,250 mt of maize and 538 mt of pulses to beneficiaries under a food-for-work programme. "We have already made some interventions into the situation through our existing development projects in that part of the country. An emergency operation is in the pipeline and we hope to get aid to these people as soon as possible," Henze said. WFP said the operation is expected to cost the agency US $1.7 million. Earlier this year, a power struggle for the presidency destroyed the economy resulting in thousands of job losses.