KAMPALA, Uganda : The Ugandan government halted rescue efforts at the site of Monday’s landslides as the death toll reached 30 people and officials warned of massive population displacement as rains continued.

“There is no hope of finding any anymore survivors,” said Stephen Malinga, Uganda’s minister responsible for relief and disaster preparedness. “The focus is on the recovery of bodies, assessment of the needs of the displaced and provision of humanitarian assistance.”

The landslides buried dozens of homes Monday in the coffee growing region of Bududa. The Uganda Red Cross said that around nine people had been taken to hospital and up to 250 others are still unaccounted for.

Mr. Malinga said that up to 400,000 people, mainly engaged in smallholder agricultural activities in the Mount Elgon area, are likely to be displaced as the rains intensify. The bulk of Uganda’s crops, such as coffee, cotton, tea and cereals, are cultivated by smallholder farmers.

Monday’s landslides destroyed hundreds of hectares of coffee plantations. A spokesman for the state-run Uganda Coffee Development Authority said the latest landslide affected at least 11 coffee-producing villages, causing extensive damage to the crop. Eastern Uganda accounts for around 30% of the country’s total coffee output of around 3.2 million 60-kilogram bags.

“Our field officers are still assessing the damage,” the spokesman said. “The mid crop harvest for the season was still going on in the affected areas.”

In 2010, around 60,000 coffee trees were destroyed after landslides hit four villages.

David Wakikona, the state minister for trade who represents the region in Uganda’s national assembly, said the landslides happened at a time when most locals were indoors.

“The search for more bodies is continuing, but many more people are believed to have died,” Mr. Wakikona said.

The government is advising all residents near the affected villages to relocate to safer areas, said Ugandan government spokesman Fred Opolot.

“The government is working towards ensuring that affected families receive necessary assistance in form of relief items,” he said.

Bududa has been hit by a spate of landslides that have killed hundreds of people in the past two years, with the worst incident in 2010 leaving more than 200 people dead.

The government has unsuccessfully tried to relocate thousands of residents in the mountainous but fertile region as Uganda, Africa’s largest coffee exporter, continues to grapple with changing weather patterns.

Last year, countries in East Africa and the Horn of Africa were hit by the worst drought in 60 years, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people in Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, according to the United Nations.