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Food security in Afghanistan
25 January 2022
SULIEMAN HEDAYAT
With food insecurity on the rise, largely due to the pandemic, drought, and conflict, Afghanistan is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises
As 2022 approached, people around the world cautiously celebrated the coming of the new year amidst the pandemic. In Afghanistan, the pandemic is no longer the primary concern , it is food or the lack of it to be precise.
Since 2014, emergency food aid has been the only source of food for over 5 million Afghans, and after the fall of the democratic government in early August, the situation has only deteriorated. In early 2021, Afghanistan was projected to be one of the hotspots of acute food insecurity by November. This was before the Taliban takeover; unfortunately, their rule has only put further strain on the ordinary Afghans already living with meagre incomes and resources. According to the integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the economic collapse, conflict, and drought have put more than 6.8 million Afghans in Emergency or Phase 4 food insecurity level.
Below, we will be looking at the main drivers of food insecurity: Economic collapse, conflict, drought, which iss a brief outlook for the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan and how it will impact the region.
According to the integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the economic collapse, conflict, and drought have put more than 6.8 million Afghans in Emergency or Phase 4 food insecurity level.
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the United States (US) and international forces has pushed Afghanistan’s conflict into a new dynamic. Over 4 million internally displaced people—with a majority being women and children (in 2021)—are only going to increase, considering Taliban’s hardline rule and medieval governing practices. Concerning reports of retribution against the former government’s officials, especially those with the security forces; and revenge killings have caused displacements, with people choosing to cut all connections with their communities, fearing for their safety. Displacement, for millions, means losing their sources of income such as their agricultural land, jobs, and any support mechanism they had had in their communities.
The security situation coupled with natural constraints such as droughts have heavily affected food security in Afghanistan. Around 70 percent of Afghans are engaged in agriculture and 61 percent of Afghan households earn their livelihoods through it. However, the drought and a sharp decline in rainfall has adversely affected this industry. In the first half of 2021, The United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the drought will put an additional 110,000 children at risk of being Severely Acutely Malnourished (SAM) or dying. Over a million children were already expected to be SAM by the end of 2021. This has added to the burden of displacement that is prevalent in the country as a result of the drought and conflict.
The article is taken from https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/food-security-in-afghanistan/?amp
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