By Jeremy Smith

BRUSSELS, March 8 (Reuters) - Southern Africa is facing a serious food shortage this year after floods and drought ravaged crops and will need to import hundreds of thousands of tonnes of maize to feed its people, the World Food Programme said.

Parts of Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia had been hit by floods that destroyed crops during their most critical growing stage, the U.N. food agency said.

In contrast, Lesotho, Namibia, southern Mozambique, much of Swaziland and huge swathes of Zimbabwe had seen crops wither away as a result of prolonged dry spells, it said.

"We are probably in for a serious food shortage across most of the region," Amir Abdulla, WFP regional director for southern Africa, told a news conference in Brussels on Thursday.

"I don't think we're on the verge of a famine but we're in a very hungry situation," Abdulla said. When asked how much food -- specifically maize -- the region might need, he said: "Hundreds of thousands of tonnes, maybe approaching millions".

Average crop losses from this year's harvests were likely to reach 60 percent in the region, maybe even 80 percent in places.

One of the worst countries affected was Swaziland, battling with delayed rainfall, heavy winds and hailstorms, and then scorching dry spells. The country looked to be facing its worst agricultural year due to drought since 1992, Abdulla said.

"Swaziland believes it will have a major problem, while Zimbabwe looks to be needing a serious amount of food imports. There's a serious situation coming," he said.

Making matters worse was that South Africa, a major supplier of food aid to the region, had seen similar drought problems around its maize areas. This would lead to higher prices and make the relief operation more expensive, he said.

But one saving grace could be Malawi, where the weather conditions had not been as harsh and whose crops had benefited from irrigation and good distribution of seeds and fertilisers.

"Malawi could be looking to have a surplus of about 1 million tonnes of maize. It could become the breadbasket of the region through good practice," Abdulla said.

"It is strange that one country in a region which is fairly uniform in its agriculture would seem to stand out. They (Malawi) are doing something right," he said.

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