Tearfund church partners are responding to growing food shortages which are affecting millions of people in Ethiopia.
A continuing drought has left more than three million Ethiopians in need of food aid, estimates the UN, up from 2.2 million just a month ago.
UNICEF is warning that six million children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition.
Tearfund partner, the Wolaitta Kale Heywet Church, is responding to the situation by changing projects offering cash for work into ones providing food for work.
The church, which has one million members, is also increasing the scale of the projects so they can meet the basic food needs of more households.
Dying livestock
Keith Etherington, Tearfund’s Country Representative for Ethiopia, said, `The current situation is due to the failure of the early rains between February and April.
`Certain areas of Ethiopia depend upon these rains in order to provide food from now until October when harvests from the main season rains should become available.
`The failure of the short rains has resulted in crops that should be available to eat now being destroyed and a large number of livestock dying.’
Lack of livestock and not enough rain to soften the soil has delayed the preparation of the land for growing main season crops, which in turn is likely to mean less food being available later in the year.
Rising food prices have also had a major impact on the situation in Ethiopia.
The World Food Programme estimates the price of maize increased by 83 per cent and wheat by 54 per cent between September 2007 and February 2008.