Some 300,000 people were displaced by ethnic violence in the country following December's election. With nothing to their name and dim prospects of a return to their land, many are now praying that already scarce food rations will not be cut.

"We don't get enough with the distributions. People used to go outside to buy more but it's becoming difficult because the prices are so high," says pastor Steven Ndumu, the chairman of a camp for the displaced in Molo.

Molo is nestled in a lush hilly landscape in the western Rift Valley, Kenya's most fertile region, and many of the displaced were farmers who lived modestly but never thought they would one day scramble for food.

But the deadly tribal feuds that erupted earlier this year are still simmering and thousands of uprooted families have no access to their own crops.

"A few days ago, in nearby Dagoretti, one of the camp dwellers tried to go back to his field to plant and pick up something to eat because the government said on television we had to go back," Ndumu says.

"But he was hit in the face by an arrow. We can't return without a heavy police or army escort."

The number of people in need of food aid is even growing as many Kenyans fled their homes in January with enough to survive for a few months but are now joining the ranks of the most deprived.

The price of basic commodities is the talk of the camp. "Sugar is at 70 shillings (1.12 dollars) a kilo," says one resident. "I tried to buy soap, they wanted 80, it used to be 40," complains another.

They have long given up on supplementing the staple meal of maize with meat, eggs or spinach and sometimes have to share their paltry rations with unregistered outsiders increasingly attracted by food hand-outs.

"Only the displaced in the camp are entitled but with the prices soaring, those outside are worse off and they've started coming here to scrounge for a meal over the fence," says Francis Gaciri Nganga, a 65-year-old who was displaced from his home.

But as the doubling of prices for many basic products starves the needy, it also puts unprecedented strain on their main source of relief.

"We simply can't buy the same amount of food with the same amount of money, we need more," says Marcus Prior, a spokesman for the World Food Programme's east Africa region.

He explains that an appeal was launched a month ago for 500 million dollars to cover the balance.

"In fact since we've appealed because prices have continued to rise, it means we're now asking for 756 million dollars," he says.

"We're getting a very good sense that our donors have been responding positively, so for the time being we are not making any cuts."

But forecasts of further rises in food prices worldwide mean that the WFP is preparing for the worst and looking at places to cut down on aid, he warns.

"One example is here in Kenya, our school feeding programme, which feeds 1.2 million children during term time every day here... We would probably have to reduce that to an average of 650,000 children over the next five years."

World Vision, a major international humanitarian organisation, announced on April 28 that a potential 1.5 million people worldwide would no longer receive its food aid.

"Despite our best efforts, more than a million of our beneficiaries are no longer receiving food aid," Dean Hirsch, president of World Vision International, said in a statement.

The WFP recently has warned of a "silent tsunami" as an extra 100 million people who previously did not require help could now not afford to buy food.

The crisis has jolted aid groups into rethinking their approach by scrapping the more expensive foods and looking to buy from small-scale farmers in affected countries to encourage local production.

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