ABOUT 40 000 people in Mozambique’s central province of Sofala face starvation because peasant farmers have lost almost all of the second planting season, says a government spokesman. “The population of Chiramba and Sena in the Sofala districts of Chemba and Caia respectively might go hungry in the next few months,” Chemba’s district administrator Framcisco Natal said. Natal said peasant farmers had planted in the expectation of good rains, but elephants and hippopotamus destroyed whatever was planted. To lessen the food shortage threat, the authorities have advised the farmers against the sale of their last harvest to neighbouring Malawi. Natal said it was unlikely the farmers would heed the advice, as they need money to buy clothes and household utensils.