AFGHANISTAN: WFP urgently needs US $11 million

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 27 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Monday that its Afghanistan operation was facing critical shortages in supplying food to 3.5 million vulnerable people, and called on donors to provide urgent funds to prevent food shortages in the post-conflict country.

“A break in food supplies looms in March if donations are not forthcoming. WFP immediately requires US $11 million to fund its current operations until June 2006,” the UN agency said in a statement.

“We don’t have enough food for vulnerable communities as they come out of winter and head into the lean season prior to the summer harvest,” said WFP Afghanistan Country Director, Charles Vincent. “The international community must renew its efforts to help vulnerable Afghans.”

“With cash, we will be able to buy commodities in the region to distribute to the most vulnerable hungry, poor Afghans. Without cash, the lean season will be also very bleak for many,” Vincent explained.

WFP operations are already being cut back due to the lack of cash. Food-for-work projects, which involve communities building local infrastructure such as roads and bridges in exchange for food rations, are being delayed. Food that has been pre-positioned in provinces in case of emergency is now being dispatched to tuberculosis patients, the agency noted.

“Poor and hungry schoolchildren who receive take-home rations of food as an incentive to attend school will receive at most half their usual ration and in some cases none at all,” The UN agency explained in its statement.

A recently completed national food security and vulnerability assessment by the government revealed a worrying picture: poor dietary diversity, poverty, debt and widespread food insecurity. Most farmers in Afghanistan do not harvest enough food to meet their needs for an entire year and many sell their assets to access capital or borrow against next year’s crop, putting them in a vicious debt cycle.

In many instances, poor food consumption with little variety in diet is likely to promote malnutrition and degenerative diseases among the most vulnerable, especially young children, WFP has warned.

Over 50 percent of children are malnourished in Afghanistan. One in three people living in rural areas are unable to meet basic nutritional requirements each day, according to the UN agency.

The war-ravaged country is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than half the population of around 24.5 million living below the poverty line. A 2003 nationwide vulnerability assessment found that some 3.5 million Afghans are extremely poor and chronically food insecure. An additional 3 million are seasonally food insecure, according to WFP.

“Afghanistan needs more than a quick fix – it needs sustained and targeted support to help it out of its crushing poverty,” said Vincent.

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