Across Asia: India

Food shortage projected

Millions of poor villagers across southern India are facing an imminent food shortage following months of intense drought and recent devastating floods, aid agencies warned yesterday.

The worst floods to hit the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in a century have killed about 280 people, destroyed or washed away millions of acres of cropland and contaminated grain stocks in millions of homes. State officials in Andhra Pradesh, one of India's traditional rice-bowls, said food grain production there was expected to plummet by more than 900,000 tons due to the floods.