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Food security in peril as Afghan crisis continues to escalate
Second Vice President Sarwar Danish said Thursday that 13 million Afghans have no food security and of this eight million are facing serious hunger problems.
Speaking at a gathering to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of Afghanistan’s Food Security and Nutrition Agenda (AFSANA), Danish said that most of these people are villagers living in rural areas.
“The national budget should be based on reducing poverty and eradicating hunger,” said Danish.
Danish also said that all key government policies should be based on reducing poverty and eradicating hunger.
He said war, poverty, injustice, a lack of water, environmental degradation and hunger are other reasons for the serious food security problem in the country.
Acting minister of agriculture Anwarullhaq Ahadi also said providing enough food for Afghans is their main goal.
“Efforts are underway to become self-sufficient regarding food,” said Ahadi.
On the other hand, World Food Program (WFP) officials in Afghanistan said at the session that they have accelerated their efforts to establish food security and are committed to working with partners in order to eradicate hunger.
Based on statistics, 38 percent of the population in Afghanistan was living under the poverty line in 2014 when Ashraf Ghani became president. This figure increased to 55 percent in 2017 and in July this year Ghani said that 90 percent of the population is living below the poverty line.
As the global food security situation seems set to continue to decline and humanitarian needs increase, humanitarian agencies are increasingly struggling to access the funds necessary to provide nutritional aid to the most vulnerable.
Increasing hunger has meant that the WFP will need an additional US$4.9 billion on this year’s budget. As a result, the WFP has been forced to scale back operations, even in severely food insecure countries such as Yemen.
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
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