GRIM PROSPECTS FOR HARVEST IN AFGHANISTAN: WFP

Islamabad -- The World Food Programme today warned that millions of poor Afghans are facing the spectre of another low harvest this year as seed and water shortages left about 40 percent of the usually cultivated land in the country fallow.

A WFP survey conducted in 24 provinces of Afghanistan shows that almost a third of the farmers surveyed intend to plant less than half of the land they normally sow. They cited shortage of seed as a factor in their decision to plant less land, but almost half of the respondents were worried that rain will fail them again this year.

“Almost half of Afghanistan’s 21 million people have been hit by the current drought and nearly three million of them are now dependent on food aid for survival. The grim prospects for the harvest this year could lead to a worse humanitarian situation than last year,” said Gerard van Dijk, WFP Afghanistan Country Director.

“We are working to step up food aid distributions in Afghanistan to prevent the crisis from getting worse than it is,” said Van Dijk. He added that hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their home villages to large cities in Afghanistan or to Pakistan and Iran in search of food have been unable to return for the new planting season.

“Afghan farmers are cultivating less land this year throughout the country. The expected reduction is widespread and dramatic in a country that needs about four million tons of cereals for annual domestic needs,” Van Dijk said.

According to the survey, conducted in February and March in 360 villages, the reduced cultivated area this year could lead to a 40 percent reduction in the harvest compared to 1998, the last normal production year when Afghan farmers harvested some 3.9 million tons. The most affected provinces will be Nimroz, Jawzjan, Zabul, Ghor, Kandahar, Herat, Badgis, Kabul and Faryab.

“Some Afghan farmers had to sow some of the wheat provided by WFP as food aid but this wheat is not suitable and it is unlikely to be a viable option,” said Pippa Bradford, head of WFP Afghanistan Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping Unit, who analysed the survey data.

Many farmers shifted from wheat to barley in central and northern Afghanistan and from rice to corn in the north.

“Farmers obviously anticipate poor climactic conditions this year and are opting for crops that require less water to grow. It is clear that farmers in all but the east and the northeast of Afghanistan are preparing themselves for another year of drought,” said Bradford.

Farmers in all regions except the east and the northeast had to sell off more than 70 percent of their livestock to buy food and other necessities. The lack of animals made cultivation even more difficult.

Last month, WFP launched a new appeal for a $76-million emergency operation to help 3.8 million poor people in Afghanistan avoid starvation due to a long and devastating cycle of drought and civil war.

About 85 percent of Afghanistan’s estimated 21 million people are directly dependent on agriculture. With their crops ruined by the drought, millions of Afghans have lost their purchasing power because of mass unemployment, a moribund economy and a 21-year civil war.

WFP is the United Nations’ front-line agency in the fight against global hunger. In 2000, WFP fed more than 83 million people in 83 countries including most of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people.

Gerard van Dijk
WFP Afghanistan Country Director
Tel. (+92 51) 2827610
Mobile +92 300 8548866
Gerad.vandijk@wfp.org

Khaled Mansour
WFP Information Officer
Tel. (+92 51) 2271265
Mobile +92 300 8500989
Khaled.mansour@wfp.org