The U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP) made an international appeal Thursday for $5.2 million to help feed more than half a million people in Malawi through the end of next year, Agence France-Presse reports. Anne Callanan, the WFP’s country director, said although the country’s maize yield of 3.3 million tons means that there is a surplus, it “does not automatically and directly trickle down to vulnerable groups such the chronically-ill and orphans.” As a result, WFP is requesting donations to provide food for “targeted beneficiaries,” she said. “The vulnerable beneficiaries — numbering some 535,000 — include AIDS sufferers, patients receiving treatment for tuberculosis and malnourished children,” AFP writes.

This year, Malawi “produced a record maize harvest, credited to heavy investment in subsidised fertiliser and other farm inputs. However food security is still a pressing issue to poverty-stricken Malawians, who account for around 45 percent of the 13 million citizens,” the news service reports (9/10).