The Caribbean nation has been ravaged by political instability and an economic crisis, with 5.7 million people -- more than half Haiti's population -- facing acute food insecurity.

Some 8,400 people are experiencing the highest level of hunger, equivalent to famine, according to the latest report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

But World Food Program (WFP) regional director Lola Castro told reporters Tuesday that just eight percent of the $900 million needed for Haiti's aid in 2025 had been financed.

"We're really very concerned over the situation," she said on a video call.

"On first of June we started the Atlantic hurricane season," Castro said, adding that in past years that agency had sufficient stocks to respond if a storm or earthquake struck.

"This year we start the hurricane season with an empty warehouse, where we have no stocks for assisting any emergency, and we have no cash either to go and buy locally ... or to do a humanitarian response," she said.

"We are very concerned that a single storm can put hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti again into the humanitarian catastrophe and hunger."

Haiti is the poorest country of the Americas and its political turmoil has given way to the rise of violent criminal gangs, who have been accused of murder, rape, looting and kidnapping.

The country is run by a transitional government and has experienced a fresh surge of violence since February, with gangs pressing into previously safe areas.

For the next six months, Castro said, the WFP will need $46 million to continue its operations.

"Haiti is falling outside all these big humanitarian crises that appear in the media every day and we cannot forget the people of Haiti," she added.