KABUL (SW): The number of people in Afghanistan resorting to selling land or turning to friends or family for help because of food insecurity has doubled in the last year, according to a joint report released Thursday by the UN and partner agencies.
The 2015 Seasonal Food Security Assessment in Afghanistan (SFSA), published by the country’s Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC), found that at the peak of the lean season the number of Afghans facing severe food insecurity increased from 4.7 percent of the population 12 months ago to 5.9 percent. This means more than 1.5 million people are now considered severely food insecure, an increase of more than 317,000.
“These figures are extremely alarming, especially in a country where more than one third of all people are already food insecure. This report could portent a future spike in the next 12 months in the need for food and other humanitarian assistance”, said Claude Jibidar, Representative and Country Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP) in Afghanistan.
“Although Afghanistan will produce slightly more wheat this year, a large number of poor and hungry people will not be able to purchase food from the market,” said Tomio Shichiri, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative in Afghanistan.
“It is a question of access to food rather than its production. Special attention needs to be given to female-headed households and displaced people to improve their access to, and improvements of agriculture-based livelihoods”, he added.
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