ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States will provide an additional 73,500 tons of food aid to southern Africa enough to feed more than five million people for one month, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said Wednesday.

    According to a news release from the US embassy here, US AID hasdecided to send more food based on the concern that poor harvest and worsening economic conditions will lead to widespread hunger in countries such as Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    Additional supplies of bulgur wheat, cornmeal, sorghum, peas, beans and vegetable oil will reach the target areas through the UNWorld Food Program (WFP), said the news release.

    The famine facing Southern Africa is a mounting concern in the region, as statistics of the starving have risen to more than six million people in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland.

    The cost of containing food shortages caused by the combinationof poor yields, flash floods, recurrent drought, and warped economic policies is astronomical. The WFP estimates that close to13 million people in the region will need food aid by the end of the year. Enditem