JOHANNESBURG - Thousands of Zimbabweans began receiving emergency food packages from the Red Cross on Wednesday as part of an effort to keep the southern African nation from plunging into famine, the global aid agency said.

Political crisis has exacerbated Zimbabwe's economic decline although hopes for an end to the deadlock have risen since veteran President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing agreement on Monday.

Food is in short supply and fears of widespread malnutrition rose earlier this year when Mugabe banned many non-governmental groups and charities from working in the country after accusing them of supporting the opposition in elections.

Mugabe, who has been accused in the past of using food as a political weapon, lifted the ban last month.

"Zimbabwe is facing a dire food security situation -- one that is widely regarded as the worst on record," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in an update on the food problems in Zimbabwe.

The agency said food packages would leave warehouses in Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare on Wednesday, carrying 383 metric tonnes of food, including maize, beans and cooking oil, to vulnerable Zimbabweans in eight of the country's 10 provinces.

Almost 24,000 people will receive the aid, which is meant to last a month. It is the first part of a $26.8 million food security operation organised by the agency, which added that it was unaffected by the government's recent ban on relief work.

Zimbabweans and relief agencies hope that a power-sharing deal signed earlier this week between Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara will pave the way for an economic recovery and an end to the food crisis.

Tsvangirai, who will become prime minister in a new unity government, said its first action would be to "stop the devastating food shortages" and to "unlock the food already in our country and distribute it to our people."

Agricultural production in Zimbabwe, once one of Africa's biggest food exporters, collapsed after Mugabe's government in 2000 began seizing and distributing thousands of white-owned farms to poor blacks.

The problems were worsened by droughts, floods and the failure to provide farmers with fertiliser, seed and other help.

Mugabe blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe's economic woes.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in June it expected staple maize and cereal production to fall again this year after dropping 44 percent to about 800,000 tonnes in 2007.

That amount was half of what was needed to feed the nation.

Last month the IFRC said more than 2 million people in Zimbabwe's rural and urban areas were currently in need of food aid, with the number expected to rise to 3.8 million in October before peaking at 5.1 million next year.