FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 06/99 - AFGHANISTAN* (25 June)
The mildest winter in the last 40 years and an outbreak of pests have sharply reduced the 1999 cereal output. An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply assessment Mission which visited the country from 22 May to 23 June 1999 estimated the 1999 total cereal production at 3.24 million tonnes, about 16 percent below last year’s bumper output of 3.86 million tonnes. As a result, the cereal import requirement in the1999/2000 marketing year (July/June) is estimated at a record 1.1 million tonnes, of which more than 95 percent is wheat. Commercial cereal imports are estimated at 800 000 tonnes, leaving a deficit of 323 000 tonnes. The emergency food aid requirement (including food-for-work and food-for-seed), estimated at 97 000 tonnes, is already on the pipeline, leaving 226 000 tonnes to be covered by programme food aid.
Despite stable prices and well stocked food shops, access to food is severely constrained due to limited income generating activities and lack of employment opportunities outside agriculture. Further recovery in agriculture is hampered by damaged irrigation infrastructure and land mines. Of immediate concern are returnee expatriate Afghans and internally-displaced persons (IDPs) who are in need of urgent assistance. Moreover, the food supply problem is much more serious in such areas as Bamyan, Saripul, Faryab and Balkh due to the relatively higher damage to dryland foodgrain production where many are in need of emergency assistance.
International food aid is being distributed to about 8 000 vulnerable households in the central highlands and to some 21 000 people in the north-eastern province of Badakhshan. An estimated 63 000 returnees from Iran and Pakistan have also received food assistance. Vulnerable groups are being provided through urban bakeries and through institutional feeding programmes in hospitals, orphanages and health centres.
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