MBABANE, Sept 17 (AFP) - Almost a quarter of Swaziland's one million people will be at risk of starvation by the end of the year, figures released by the country's disaster task force showed Tuesday.

Task force chairman Ben Nsibandze said a total of 9,000 new cases of those at risk had been reported since the UN World Food Programme estimated in mid-August that 144,000 could die of hunger, increasing the number to 153,000.

The figure will reach 231,000 by the end of the year, he said.

Most of the affected areas are in eastern and central Swaziland, a tiny kingdom landlocked by Mozambique and South Africa, where a dry spell destroyed maize crops before harvesting.

Nsibandze said the task force had revised upwards the estimate of food aid needed from 17,000 to 19,500 tonnes.

"Maize prices have doubled as a result of the scarcity of food in drought-stricken areas. This is a result of the decline in crop production, which dropped by 39 percent in the past five years," he said.

A vulnerability assessment found that 29 percent of households have either no adults or only one person aged between 19 and 60, he said.

Women are heading families in more than 40 percent of households.

"This could be as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as males seeking job opportunities elsewhere," Nsibandze said.

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