The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says that Cyclone Idai, which hit southern Africa 12 days ago, wiped out a whole year’s worth of crops across swathes of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
WFP Executive Director David Beasley told the BBC that farmers had lost everything and the aid effort urgently needed funds to tackle what was going to be a long-lasting humanitarian crisis.
Cyclone Idai destroyed tens of thousands of homes in Mozambique where more than 1.8 million people are in need of assistance.
With fears of water-borne diseases the World Health Organization says it is sending close to 900,000 doses of a cholera vaccine which it expects to arrive within the next 10 days.