Food bank use in Manitoba has more than doubled over the past five years, according to a new report from Harvest Manitoba.

The organization says 61,188 Manitobans accessed a food bank in March alone, with nearly half of those relying on food banks each month being children.

Harvest distributed 13.4 million pounds of food over the past year, including nearly 700,000 pounds delivered to northern Manitoba through 214 trips.

The organization says an average of nearly 25-thousand households are now visiting a food bank each month.

Harvest Manitoba is marking its 40th year of service and says growing demand continues to put pressure on communities across the province.