OVER 55 000 adults and children are suffering from malnutrition in Madagascar after disastrous weather destroyed this year’s crops, the World Food Programme (WFP) said. The affected zone, a 150km strip along the eastern-central coast of the island, is one of the richest areas, producing enough rice, coffee, cloves and lychees for some to be exported. Emergency food stocks, brought in to tide the population over until the next harvests, will run out in mid-December. – AFP