The World Food Programme said Tuesday that it would have to end food aid to two million people in South Sudan in the coming weeks because of a lack of funds.

About 7.8 million people, about half of the country's population, struggle to get enough food each day, according to the UN agency's assistant executive director Matthew Hollingworth.

The WFP gives daily support to about three million of them and the number would fall to one million by the end of the month unless it receives "a very significant uptick in resources very soon", Hollingworth told reporters.

He estimated that $86 million was needed immediately and $416 million over the next six months to keep up the assistance.

Children and women

Some 2.2 million children and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women require "urgent nutrition support", said Hollingworth.

"Unless additional resources are secured, more than a million vulnerable people could lose access to life-saving food and nutrition assistance by October."

The agency's shrinking resources were already visible on the ground. Hollingworth said WFP warehouses in Malakal held 10,000 tonnes of food a year ago but now contain fewer than 300 tonnes.

Since its independence in 2011, South Sudan has been hit by a series of internal conflicts. It has also taken in more than one million refugees from the civil war in neighbouring Sudan.

‘Financial cliff’

Economic difficulties and climate-related pressures have further worsened the humanitarian situation.

"We are about to drop off a financial cliff at a time when the needs are at the greatest level that they've been at for the past 13, 14 years," Hollingworth said.