Zambia is to receive $50m (�30m) in emergency assistance from the World Bank, to help it deal with the effects of the famine devastating Southern Africa.

The money - $20m of which comes as a grant, with the rest as a loan - is intended to fund critical imports of goods needed to stave off the worst effects of the drought affecting the entire region.

The urban poor, who in normal years spend up to 60% of their income on food, can scarcely afford to pay today's higher prices Tekola Dejene, World Bank

High on the list of priorities are farming equipment, livestock, medicines, construction supplies and vehicles.

The aim is to shore up the country's tattered infrastructure and keep emergency supplies running to the 2.9 million Zambians - more than a quarter of the population - who need direct assistance as a result of the drought.

"Many smallholder farmers who grow food for their own consumption and income are now forced to buy food on the market, but have little money to do so," said Tekola Dejene, World Bank senior economist and task leader for the project.

"Also, the urban poor, who in normal years spend up to 60% of their income on food, can scarcely afford to pay today's higher prices."

Millions at risk

The package is the second time that the Bank has offered financial support to African countries, following a similar payout to Malawi earlier this month.

In all, the United Nations estimates that more than 14 million people across the region - in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Swaziland and Lesotho as well as Malawi and Zambia - are facing possible starvation as a result of failed rains.

In Zimbabwe, the problems have been exacerbated by the government's seizure of land from the commercial farming sector.

While land reform is accepted by all sides as necessary in Zimbabwe, the speed of the programme has often left the land's new occupants without fertiliser, equipment and even seed.

And the prevalence of HIV and Aids in southern Africa is compounding the problem, since the disease is crippling and killing adults of working age in their thousands.

Charity campaigners have argued that all aid to Africa should be in the form of grants rather than loans, as most sub-Saharan African countries are unable to repay their existing debts to Western institutions.

The World Bank has also urged Western countries to open their markets to agricultural products from developing countries, and work to eliminate the $350bn in farm subsidies - five times the amount of foreign aid.