Madagascar Drought Puts 250,000 Children At Risk

PlanetArk 27 Apr 09;

PORT LOUIS - Up to 250,000 children are at risk of malnutrition and disease in southern Madagascar as a political crisis and tropical cyclones exacerbate severe food shortages, the UN children agency said.

UNICEF said that the rains had failed again in the Indian Ocean island's southern region, devastating the last harvest and reducing the amount of safe water available for human consumption.

"By the end of 2008, almost 400,000 people were living in food-insecure districts across Madagascar. The situation has only worsened since. Up to a quarter-million children are now reportedly at risk of disease and malnutrition," it said.

Earlier this week, aid agencies warned that the world's fourth largest island was on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Acute malnutrition rates have reached serious levels in five districts in Madagascar, the UN agency said in a report late on Friday.

Donors including the United States and Norway, who suspended development aid to the island after ousted leader Marc Ravalomanana quit power under pressure from the army, have maintained emergency funding.

"My daughter is hungry. We only eat Raketa (Cactus fruit) as we have nothing else," mother-of-four Zefita told UNICEF after walking 10 kms (6 miles) to the nearest health clinic with her malnourished child.

"If only it was raining, we could cultivate maize or potatoes, but now we cannot do anything," she said.

Industrial giant Daewoo sparked nationwide anger last year when it announced it had a deal to lease more than a million hectares of Malagasy farmland to safeguard South Korea's food-security.

New incumbent Andry Rajoelina, a onetime disc-jockey with little political experience beyond nearly two years as mayor of the capital immediately cancelled the land deal on taking power.

Aid groups fear food insecurity will worsen in coming months as the lack of rain delays the next harvest by three months and reduces it by up to 40 percent.

Earlier this month, the United Nations put out an emergency appeal for $35.7 million.

The majority of Madagascar's 20 million people live on less than a dollar a day despite a period of sustained economic growth under Ravalomanana's seven-year rule during which he welcomed major foreign companies investing in the island's booming oil and mineral sectors.

(Writing by Richard Lough)