New York (PTI): UN has asked international donors to provide USD 140 million to feed some four million Zimbabweans over the next six months, saying that without more funds the agency will run out of stocks by January next year.

A joint assessment by UN World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) found that more than two million people need assistance in Zimbabwe and the number is expected to rise to 5.1 million or 45 per cent of the population early next year.

"Millions of Zimbabweans have already run out of food or are surviving on just one meal a day, and the crisis is going to get much worse in the coming months," WFP Regional Director for East, Central and Southern Africa, Mustapha Darboe, said. "WFP can prevent this crisis from becoming a disaster but we need more donations and we need them now."

The World Food Programme is planning to expand its relief programme within Zimbabwe as well as enhance the nutritional quality of its food basket to prevent malnutrition, a growing threat in the country, where 28 per cent of children under five are already chronically malnourished.

Critical to these efforts are the timely provisions of additional donations without which WFP will run out of supplies in January. It currently faces a short of over 145,000 metric tons of food including 110,000 tons of cereals.

The agency has received around USD 175 million so far in 2008, but another USD 140 million is urgently needed to fund WFP's huge emergency operation until April 2009.