The United Nations World Food Program says some 2.7 million people in South Sudan will need food aid next year because of crop failure and regional conflict.

The agency said Thursday it is scaling up operations in the newly-independent country to feed the people in need.

Erratic rains in the region have caused crop to fail and food prices to surge. The food agency says the problem has been made even worse by fighting along the border between South Sudan and Sudan.

The border has been closed in some areas, disrupting trade and shrinking food stocks. Also, hundreds of thousands of people — some displaced, some returning from the north — have arrived in Southern Sudanese camps, further increasing demand.

The WFP's South Sudan director, Chris Nikoi, said Thursday that the country is facing a “gathering storm of hunger” that will leave hundreds of thousands of children at risk of malnutrition.

The World Food Program is appealed for $92 million in aid to ensure food is in place next year.