Oxfam said spiralling costs have combined with successive droughts, violent conflict and endemic poverty to leave up to 13 million in the region in urgent need of aid.

In the face of a potential catastrophe, the poverty campaign group called for immediate action and increased donor support to avert the coming crisis.

Food costs have soared in recent months, with the cost of imported rice in Somalia rising by 350% since the beginning of last year.

Areas of Ethiopia have seen the price of wheat more than double over a six-month period. It is estimated that in those two east African nations alone there are an estimated 7.2 million people in need of emergency assistance.

In Turkana, northern Kenya, an Oxfam survey suggests that a quarter of children are suffering from acute malnutrition.

Rob McNeil, who has just returned from the region as part of an Oxfam team, said: "This is a catastrophe in the making. We have time to act before it becomes a reality.

"The cost of food has escalated by up to 500% in some places, leaving people who have suffered drought after drought in utter destitution. Some of the roads we travelled on were littered with dead livestock."

He continued: "People are increasingly becoming desperate. I saw people in one village reduced to pounding the food pellets intended for their animals into porridge to feed their families."

Oxfam has called on international donors to increase aid levels to the region, noting that a UN appeal for emergency assistance for Somalia has received only 37% of funding needed.