Addis Ababa, Jul 23 (IANS): Drought conditions in various parts of Ethiopia have caused 9.88 million people to be food insecure, according to the UN World Food Program (WFP).

In a drought response situation report, WFP said nearly 10 million people in Ethiopia have become food insecure because of four consecutive missed rainy seasons, reports Xinhua news agency.

The UN agency said 3.3 million people have been provided with nutritional and cash assistance including 119,000 children living in drought-affected parts of Ethiopia.

The WFP is also supporting families in Ethiopia with a combination of emergency relief, nutrition support as well as resilience-building actions to save lives in the short term and build resilience in the long term.

WFP, however, said a severe funding shortage has forced it to cut food rations to 2.4 million people and only treat 17 per cent of the malnourished children and mothers across southern and south-eastern Ethiopia.

The UN agency also disclosed it needs $277 million until the end of this year to effect immediate and scaled-up assistance to avoid a major humanitarian crisis and help millions of Ethiopians living in drought-affected parts of Ethiopia become resilient to extreme climate shocks.

The funds are needed to meet the needs of vulnerable population groups in Ethiopia's Somali, Oromia and Southern regions.