ROME -- The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) made an urgent appeal for aid to boost its programs in Southern Africa and stave off famine for some seven million persons, AFP reported.

The FAO asked in a statement for 25 million dollars (euros) in donations to run 13 agricultural programs in Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Drought and floods, combined with a second consecutive season of crop failures, have left 10 million people in a food crisis across the southern part of the continent, according to the organization.

The subregion has been hard hit by the aids epidemic, as well as political problems like a shortage of public funds and land reform activities in Zimbabwe, it said.

If successful, the the emergency aid drive will assist drought-affected families with farming kits, fertilizer, seeds, hand tools and other materials. In Zimbabwe, the FAO will also focus on aiding 200,000 fishermen and their families.

The core objectives of the programs are to encourage self-sufficiency among the farming families and help them to prepare for the main planting season in October and November.