Kabul, Afghanistan
December 23, 2008
Source:
IRIN News
Drought has badly damaged
agriculture in the country pushing millions into food insecurity
Agricultural production will see no major increase in 2009 and
Afghanistan will continue to rely on external assistance and
food imports, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has
said.
"Adverse weather, limited supplies and high food prices,"
combined with worsening insecurity, are considered to have
adversely affected agriculture, according to FAO's Crop
Prospects and Food Situation report published in December.
Elsewhere in the world - particularly in Africa, Europe and
Central America - cereal production will see a significant
increase which will bode well for millions of food-insecure
people around the world, as wheat and maize prices continue to
decline, FAO forecasts.
"In the first two weeks of December, the prices for wheat and
coarse grains averaged respectively 40 percent and 20 percent
less than the December average last year," the organisation
said.
In Afghanistan, however, prices have remained relatively high,
making it difficult for over eight million food-insecure people
to eat properly.
The price of one kilogram of wheat in Kabul was about 40
Afghanis (about 80 US cents) in December, compared to 0.23 cents
in the USA, the FAO report says.
Shortage of seed
Severe drought has reduced domestic agricultural production by
up to 40 percent. Afghanistan faces a shortfall of 2.3 million
tonnes of food in 2008-2009, FAO has estimated.
The country needs over six million tonnes of cereals for
domestic consumption a year, but produced only about 3.5 million
tonnes in 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and
Livestock (MAIL) said.
"There are about 2.5 million farmers in the country and they
need some 250,000 tonnes of wheat seed for cultivation
annually," Fazluddin Fazl, director of agriculture promotion at
the MAIL, told IRIN on 21 December.
Farmers and aid workers have already voiced concern about the
lack of certified seeds for cultivation.
"I have nothing to plant… I lost my seeds in the drought," said
a farmer in the northern province of Faryab, adding that some
farming households had also consumed their stocks of wheat seed
because of food shortages.
The MAIL said about 20 percent of Afghan farmers in 14 provinces
(mostly in drought-affected areas) would receive some kind of
assistance, including certified seeds and fertilisers for the
next cultivation season.
Agricultural potential
Three decades of conflict have severely damaged irrigation and
farming infrastructure, making it largely dependent on food
imports, primarily from neighbouring Pakistan.
"Of the eight million hectares of arable land in the country,
less than 50 percent is usually cultivated," said Fazl, citing
lack of water and implements as the main problems.
Experts say Afghanistan has strong potential to become an
exporter of food, including fruit, if donors invested generously
in agricultural development projects and supported farmers. The
country has vast areas of arable land, fertile soil, ample water
resources and a large rural farming community, all of which can
contribute to robust agricultural production, they say. |
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