United Nations, Dhu-AlQa'dah 10, 1436, Aug 25, 2015, SPA -- The World Food Program (WFP) said Tuesday that roughly 1.5 million Zimbabweans are expected to go hungry this year after a steep drop in maize production. According to the WFP, about 16 percent of the population is expected to be "food insecure" at the peak of the 2015-2016 lean season, the period following harvest when food stocks run especially low - a 164 percent increase on the previous year. The South African Development Community says that Zimbabwe's staple maize crop of 742,000 tons is down 53 percent from 2014-2015. "The situation in Zimbabwe is more extreme than most countries in the region, but it is not unique," WFP spokesperson David Orr told Reuters. "Zimbabwe is particularly bad because it was hit very hard by the drought, which was severe this year." --SPA 19:20 LOCAL TIME 16:20 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w