Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Red Cross said it will begin distributing 383 metric tons of food aid to 24,000 people in Zimbabwe, where drought has resulted in a ``disastrous'' harvest this year and hyper-inflation has caused prices to surge.

The package provides enough corn, beans and cooking oil for a month, the Geneva-based agency said in an e-mailed statement in Johannesburg today.

``Alternating droughts and rain, influenced by climate change, has resulted in a disastrously underperforming 2008 harvest, one that is widely seen as the worst in the country's history,'' the Red Cross said. ``In addition, ongoing socio- economic decline has contributed to a severe lack of agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, leaving even fertile fields unsown.''

Zimbabwe is in its 10th year of an economic recession and has the world's highest inflation rate, 11.2 million percent, following a land-redistribution campaign begun by Mugabe in 2000. The program, in which white-owned commercial farms were seized for redistribution to black farmers deprived of land during colonial rule, slashed agricultural output and led to shortages of basic commodities including flour and cooking oil.

The food crisis in Zimbabwe may leave 5.1 million in the southern African ``at grave risk,'' United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said on July 8.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ron Derby in Johannesburg at rderby1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 17, 2008 09:09 EDT