Zambia and six other countries in southern Africa will share 22 million U.S. dollars as food aid provided by South Africa to alleviate food shortages in the region, according to Times of Zambia on Monday.

The newspaper quoted the latest news bulletin of the Development Zambia as saying that Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe will also benefit from the fund.

Of the fund, 70 percent will be used to assist households to become agriculturally productive again, 25 percent will be allocated to direct food relief through the World Food Program and the remaining money will be used to support the region's early warning system.

This is the third donation by the South African government since the 2002/2003 fiscal year, when it donated 26 million dollars.

In 2004, South Africa provided 15.7 million dollars for both food aid and agricultural rehabilitation programs.

According to the bulletin, currently 9.2 million people in the region require emergency food aid.

Source: Xinhua