MONITORING (SW) -The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has warned that neglecting agriculture would be a grave strategic mistake that could lead to a systemic collapse, and an even larger humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
“Agriculture is the foundation of #Afghanistan‘s economy and food security. Neglecting it would be a grave strategic mistake that could lead to a systemic collapse, and an even larger humanitarian crisis. Supporting agriculture is the path to regain self-reliance & prosperity”, it tweeted.
The World Food Program said earlier this month that 22.8 million people – half of the population – are projected to be acutely food insecure in 2022,1 including 8.7 million at risk of famine-like conditions.
According to the latest estimates, 4.7 million children, pregnant and lactating women at risk of acute malnutrition in 2022. It further said that all 34 provinces are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity
The WFP said it has reached 12 million2 people with food, nutrition, and resilience support in February. Due to increased food needs, the WFP plans to reach 23 million people in 2022.
It announced to scale-up to reach 18 million people in March. This includes scaling up resilience activities, including vocational skills training and food assistance for assets activities, across 17 and 22 provinces, respectively, said the WFP.
Two-thirds of the population are now resorting to crisis-level coping strategies to feed their families. This is an eight percentage point increase from December and a staggering sixfold increase since August 2021, according to WFP’s latest Food Security Update for Afghanistan. Crisis and emergency coping strategies include the sale of organs and children.
Almost 100 percent of female-headed households are facing insufficient food consumption. Female-headed households are more likely to employ crisis-level coping strategies than male-headed households.
Eight in ten households experienced a significant decrease in income during the month of January. Households in Kabul were hit the hardest, where some families braved the harsh winter season without any income at all.
More than half of Afghanistan’s population, or 22.8 million people, are acutely food insecure, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, while more than 24.4 people are in need of humanitarian support. A total 8.7 million people are just one step away from experiencing famine-like conditions.
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