More than 1 million Malawians will need food aid till March 2020, the government of Malawi has recently said.

According to a government report, up to 1,062,674 people may be at risk of food insecurity during the 2019/20 lean season, said Wilson Moleni, secretary to the vice president and commissioner for disaster management, during a press briefing on Tuesday.

Further assessments are being conducted on the food situation and an updated report will be produced, he added.

Moleni also announced that the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) was arranging for food to be distributed in all of the country's 28 districts, as a one-off effort to alleviate the situation.

Around 8,129 tons of maize will be needed for the program, as well as funding to support the logistics involved in distributing the aid, said Moleni.

He added that implementation of the program would cost 51.8 million U.S. dollars, and as of Nov. 25, 10.7 million U.S. dollars had been sourced.

The program will operate till March 2020, according to the DoDMA commissioner.

Malawi, with a population of some 18 million, is one of the world's least developed countries, according to UN statistics.