FAO hails WB $150mn life-saving assistance to vulnerable Afghans

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) welcomed an unprecedented $150 million contribution from the World Bank to provide critical livelihood and life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable rural populations in Afghanistan, according to a statement on Tuesday.

Some 19.7 million people, almost half of Afghanistan’s population, are facing acute hunger meaning they are unable to feed themselves on a daily basis, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released in May 2022 by Food Security and Agriculture Cluster partners, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and many non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

High levels of acute food insecurity persist across Afghanistan due to a combination of a collapsing economy and continuing drought. The ripple effects from the war in Ukraine are exacerbating the food security situation, pushing food prices to new highs, increasing the costs of vital agricultural inputs, especially fertilizer, and placing pressure on countries in the region supplying wheat to Afghanistan to restrict food exports, giving priority to their respective domestic consumption.

The new Afghanistan Emergency Food Security Project will boost the production of food crops for smallholder Afghan farmers and prevent the further deterioration of food security.

This is the first tranch of a total amount of $195 million, another $45 million will be released within the next 24 months.

“We are grateful to the World Bank and its Members for the generous and timely contribution”, said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu . “It is a historic moment for poor farmers in Afghanistan, and it represents an important milestone in our collective efforts to deliver results at scale, avert a looming catastrophe and make real transformative differences in the lives of vulnerable people”.

Pr/nh