LONDON, July 21 (AlertNet) - The U.N. food agency says it urgently needs $222 million to avert a major food crisis in Ethiopia, where millions are struggling to cope with drought and high prices.

The Ethiopian government and the United Nations estimate that 4.6 million people in the Horn of Africa country will need emergency food aid to tide them through to the next harvest in November.

Another 5.7 million who receive food and cash for work under a regular welfare scheme live in areas where drought is biting and need extra help.

"Already for some kids... it's too late, but it's not too late for many, many other children who need assistance until the next harvest comes in," said Sonali Wickrema, who designs programmes in Ethiopia for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).

"We want rapid assistance now in order to prevent large-scale and long-term damage," she said.

The Ethiopian government says 75,000 children are suffering from the most severe form of malnutrition because of food and water shortages caused by drought.

The government and aid agencies put out a call in mid-June for $325 million to deal with the failure of the shorter of two rainy seasons combined with soaring food and fuel costs.

WFP country director Mohamed Diab said donors had only agreed to provide half of that so far, and urged them to give the rest without waiting for the emergency to become more acute.

"Given the fragile and critical nutritional situation in the country, if such resources don't come on time... we will see the situation worsening beyond the current level," Diab warned.

He said food aid would take two to three months to arrive in the country. Due to dwindling stocks, WFP has already cut cereal rations for July by a third.

COSTLY CEREALS

High prices and a lack of food supplies in Ethiopia are forcing WFP to procure and bring in food aid from outside the country, from places like South Africa and the Black Sea region.

The agency said the cost of white maize, the staple food for most poor Ethiopians, has risen more than 150 percent on Ethiopian markets in the past year, and grain has become so scarce that prices for most domestically produced cereals are higher than imported supplies.

This year, aid agencies have issued warnings about similar problems in nearby countries dealing with the overlap of drought and high global food prices - Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and parts of Uganda.

In addition, Ethiopia has used most of its emergency food reserves to feed around 3 million poor people in urban areas over the past 18 months, according to WFP.

Wickrema said the failure of the March-May rains had begun to cost lives in Ethiopia. She said WFP did not have an accurate death toll, but it had probably not yet reached the hundreds.

The longer of the country's two rainy seasons has now started in some areas, but Diab said overall rainfall across Ethiopia was expected to be below average in the coming months, and might mean a less abundant November-December harvest than normal.

If that happens, the numbers needing relief could rise, and emergency aid might have to go on beyond November, he said.

Ethiopia accused some aid agencies last month of exaggerating the drought's impact to raise money under false pretences.

Diab said the emergency so far was restricted to pockets, with the southern regions of Oromia, Somali and SNNP hit hardest.

"There is no widespread famine. There is localised, critical child malnutrition," he said.

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.