3.7 million Tanzanians facing drought-caused hunger

Tanzania has formally asked the international community to contribute 100,000 tons of relief food for 3.7 million of its people.

The call was made by Tanzanian Prime Minister Edward Lowassa in Dodoma on Monday when he addressed foreign diplomats in a special meeting called on a short notice, according to reports reaching Dar Es Salaam on Tuesday.

This was the second such request by the Tanzanian government in the last nine years.

The prime minister told foreign diplomats that 3,764,843 people in 618,816 households were at risk of famine and they needed 99, 676 tons of relief food between now and April, according to the reports.

The figures were provided by the National Food Security Information Team.

The prime minister asked the international community to contribute relief food in that the country's Strategic Grain Reserves has just 57,620 tons of food in stock.

"This is alarming and needs immediate attention," said Prime Minister Lowassa.

Tanzania last requested international assistance for relief food in the 2002/2003 season when the country experienced a prolonged drought.

Source: Xinhua