After three years of drought and crop failures, nearly 850,000 people in Madagascar are experiencing alarming levels of hunger, with 330,000 of them on the brink of famine, says the Guardian. The outlet reported huge funding shortfalls for hunger relief work in seven countries across southern Africa.
The total deficit for the World Food Program’s work in southern Africa was $300 million. The WFP lacks $50 million for its planned $82 million for drought relief in Madagascar. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization also is struggling and must limit distribution of emergency packages to 75,000 of the 175,000 farm households that need help.
“If we miss the planting season, the need for food assistance could go into March 2018,” a FAO official told the Guardian. If conditions do not improve, farmers could face another crop failure because they rely on rainfall.