The UN World Food Program (WFP) is warning that thousands of families in southern Madagascar are at risk of acute starvation, as the worst drought in decades dries up food sources. 

The acute level of food insecurity threatens to affect 400,000 people, according to the report.

WFP chief David Beasley said that 400,000 people in the region are "marching toward starvation," while 14,000 are currently living in "famine-like conditions."

Beasly said in a WFP press release that families in the region are "holding on for dear life," and that he had met women and children during a recent visit who had "walked for hours" to get to the food distribution points. 

The WFP chief says climate change is to blame for the food emergency. 

The situation is "not because of war or conflict, this is because of climate change," Beasley stressed.

Madagascar has contributed nothing to climate change but "they're the ones paying the highest price," he added.

People forced to eat 'locusts and leaves'

"Families have been living on raw red cactus fruits, wild leaves and locusts for months now," Beasley said. 

Lola Castro, the WFP regional direction in southern Africa, told a news conference that she witnessed "a very dramatic and desperate situation" during her visit with Beasley.

She added the food situation in southern Madagascar is unlike anything she has witnessed in 28 years of working for the WFP on four continents, with the exception of what is now South Sudan in 1998. 

Madagascar is the only country facing a "Famine Humanitarian Catastrophe" that isn't being exacerbated by a conflict, according to the WFP.

The UN and Madagascar's government are due to launch an appeal in the coming days for about $155 million in a few days to provide food and prevent a major famine, Castro said.

rm/wmr (AP, Reuters)