AlHijjah 5, 1434, Oct 10, 2013, SPA -- About 4 million people in rural Madagascar are food insecure after rice and corn production suffered this year from erratic weather and a locust invasion, two U.N. agencies said Wednesday. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) warned in a statement that an additional 9.6 million people are at risk of food insecurity. A joint assessment conducted this summer by the two Rome-based agencies said the poor agricultural season was due to erratic weather conditions in 2012, cyclones early this year that caused flooding, and a subsequent period of little rain. Another factor was the devastation caused by a locust plague that both damaged crops and discouraged farmers from planting. The joint U.N. report calls for swift locust-control measures to avert further destruction of crops, preventing a potentially larger impact on national agricultural production in 2014.
