WFP asks for $500m to avoid food crisis

A UN food agency yesterday announced an "extraordinary emergency appeal"to donor countries to help close a gap of at least $500 million, blamed on soaring prices for fuel and food.

The Rome-based World Food Program said it issued the appeal in a letter sent to governments on Thursday, urging them to be as generous as possible by May 1 so the WFP will not have to begin rationing food aid.

The agency estimates that in Darfur alone it needs to provide emergency food for as many as 3 million people daily. The organization, the world's largest humanitarian agency, gives food to as many as 70 million people worldwide.