Addis Ababa — Farmers in lowland areas of eastern Ethiopia are increasingly turning to the narcotic khat, according to the UN's Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (EUE).

It said the sharp rise in the use of the mild stimulant may be due to the fact that local people were becoming despondent about their future in the drought-hit Haraghe region of eastern Ethiopia.

"In general, all over the visited Haraghe lowlands, people seem to be socially discouraged," the EUE said in a report on the food crisis in the region.

"They do not seem to be very positive or hopeful and confident about their future," the report added, saying the food crisis was hampered by long-term drought in the region.

"This attitude may be illustrated by the increased khat consumption both in urban and rural areas that developed despite the extreme poverty of most of the khat-consuming people," it noted.

Although khat is illegal in some western countries, it is widely consumed in the Horn of Africa and is currently Ethiopia's third largest export, bringing in vital foreign exchange.

The EUE said seed distribution should be a "top priority" in the area and this should be supported by food aid to stop hungry farmers and their families eating the seeds rather than planting them.

Haraghe has been hard hit by the current drought in Ethiopia, with poor rains for the last three years. In some lowland areas almost 95 percent of harvests have failed.