The World Food Program (WFP) has warned that Malawi's food crisis was getting worse than anticipated with the figure of most vulnerable people adjusted upward from 4.2 million to more than five million.

Matthews Nyirenda, an official with the WFP local office in Lilongwe, told Xinhua Monday that the worsening situation had prompted the UN agency to increase the number of vulnerable people that required relief food up to April next year when Malawi's next harvest was expected.

Nyirenda said WFP was originally planning to feed about two million vulnerable people in the seven districts of southern Malawi while the government and other organizations had committed themselves to feeding an additional 2.2 million in other parts of the country.

He said due to the worsening food situation, WFP would now feed up to 2.9 million vulnerable people in southern Malawi where food shortages were more acute compared to other parts of the country.

Malawi is facing its worst food shortage since 1992 after the country failed to harvest sufficient staple maize in the past cropping year due to a drought that hit most southern African countries. The country produced just 1.25 million tons or 37 percent of the required consumption of 3.4 million tons of maize.

The Malawi government is importing 300,000 tons of maize, of which 250,000 tons will be distributed freely to most vulnerable people.

WFP Regional Director for Southern Africa, Mike Sackett, warned last week that the world's window of opportunity to help Malawi and the rest of affected countries in the region was closing fast.

"It can take up to four months to get food to those who need it, so cash and food donations must be given now if we are to reach the neediest in time," said Sackett.

"It will be too late once emaciated images appear on television screen," he warned.

Source: Xinhua