AFGHANISTAN* (6 June)
Above-average precipitation and water availability in various rivers in Afghanistan are seen to result in another bumper crop this year. However, air temperatures in the past few weeks have been significantly above average, which may cause flooding compromising crops and infrastructure. Aggregate cereal harvest is tentatively forecast at about 5.3 million tonnes, some 2 million tonnes up on the five-year average harvest. The forecast cereal harvest includes some 4.27 million tonnes of wheat, 315 000 tonnes of maize, 337 000 tonnes of barley and 325 000 tonnes of paddy rice. Aggregate cereal import requirement for the 2005/06 marketing year is forecast at about 386 000 tonnes, including 280 000 tonnes of wheat and 106 000 tonnes of rice. The wheat import requirement includes some 120 000 tonnes of targeted food assistance requirement for the same period.
WFP under the current Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) is targeting a total of 4.8 million vulnerable beneficiaries. Main recovery activities include food for education --school feeding, de-worming, support to teacher training, literacy training, -- vocational skill training and food-for-work activities focusing on forestation, environmental protection, watershed management, irrigation and construction of schools. Relief activities, one-third of the planned assistance, support returning refugees, internally-displaced persons, the malnourished, TB patients and their families, vulnerable households and social institutions, as well as isolated populations affected by natural disasters, such as snow, floods and earthquakes. The Government, with support of WFP and other stakeholders, launched the 2005 National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment end-May 2005. The assessment covers both rural and urban areas. The findings, expected to be released in September 2005, will support programming intervention modalities for identified populations at risk.