More than 7.6 million in need of food aid - gov't

The number of Ethiopians in need of food aid has risen to more than 7.6 million as a result of crop failure and lack of pasture following poor or erratic long rains earlier this year, the country's disaster prevention commission said. More than 6.6 million people in the Horn of Africa country had already been dependent on food aid following a prolonged drought that hit the region in 2002 and 2003. The needy would require nearly 500,000 mt of assorted foodstuffs between August and December this, according to a report released on Monday by the Ethiopian Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC). The report said that the "Belg" [early] rains in many parts of the country this year either started late or were irregular and insufficient, and that a long dry spell in February had led to the wilting of long-cycle crops such as sorghum and maize. Areas hardest hit by the crop failures included the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, North and South Wollo zones in the Amhara Region and East and West Haraghe zones in the Oromiya region, according to the report. In the pastoral regions of the south, the March to May rainfall started early or on time in most areas, but distribution was uneven, sporadic and of low intensity, except in some parts where close to normal precipitation was received during April. The rains ended early around the end of April and livestock and human populations were already experiencing serious stress. The full report is available at: www.reliefweb.int