Prime Minister Themba Dlamini made the declaration on Wednesday and announced that the disaster had been gazetted, it said.

"The kingdom of Swaziland is seriously facing a humanitarian crisis that stems from three adjoining fundamental trends, namely drought and land degradation, increasing poverty and HIV/AIDS," Dlamini said.

"The combination of these trends and severity of the situation leave no doubt in my mind that the kingdom of Swaziland is indeed in a desperate scenario, which requires urgent national and international intervention," he told the paper.

The tiny kingdom, wedged between South Africa and Mozambique, has suffered its fourth successive year of drought, combined with a serious problem of AIDS, which affects about 38.6 percent of the adult population, according to the latest government figures.

Dlamini, who had concluded a tour of the hardest-hit eastern areas said: "Indeed the situation is bad. The continuing drought and lack of rain have prevented many planting their fields."

"The deadly combination of HIV/AIDS and poverty has produced a novel situation that has increased the vulnerability of families," Dlamini said.

Swaziland's agricultural ministry said in December it needed to import some 86,000 tonnes of maize this year, more than half the 148,900 tonnes needed to feed its population of around 1.1 million people.

Farmers have run out of maize stocks as a result of poor harvests.

Almost 300,000 Swazis already depend on food aid provided by the UN World Food Programme and the government.

Much of southern Africa is suffering from lower than average rainfall for the current summer season.

TERRA.WIRE