Malawi's government says at least 70 per cent of its 10 million people are on the verge of starvation, and the situation is getting worse.
Reports from rural areas say people are dying after eating strange tubers and leaves. Old people are simply starving to death.
In a case of desperation, a 30-year-old woman in the central district of Kasungu has offered to sell her five children to raise money for food. Her sixth child died of malnutrition.
Vice President Justin Malewezi has told visiting delegates from the International Monetary Fund that hunger in the country has reached crisis point, and almost the entire nation is facing food shortages.
The government estimates it needs at least $21.6 million to avoid a disaster, but has secured only $1.6 million, he told the delegates.
The World Food Program says drought, flooding and economic hardship has created the hunger problem. It says it is targeting 2.4 million hungry people in southern Africa, particularly Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
That number could grow if the April harvest is as poor as expected, the WFP warns.
In Malawi's southern town of Balaka, police say they are collecting at least one corpse from people who starved to death overnight.
Theft and murders have also increased following the food crisis, local police say.
AP