NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The World Food Program is seeking $30.8 million in locust and drought aid for Mauritania.
The twin natural disasters last year devastated Mauritania's northern agricultural production zone, leaving 400,000 people hungry, the U.N. food agency said Monday in Nouakchott, capital of the West Africa nation.
The aid also would help in the construction of dykes and reservoirs in the arid region in the next two years, the agency said.
"The international community must respond if we are to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Mauritania," WFP's country representative Sory Ouane said.
The food agency said 60 percent of households in Mauritania's agricultural zone will not have enough to eat this year.
Some families were not only hungry but have lost their livelihood after the drought and insects destroyed pasture land used for their livestock.
