Food stocks dwindling in Northeastern Afghanistan

Islamabad (Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan), 9 April 2001 - In order to assess reports about famine deaths, inter-agency missions recently went to Shar-i-Buzurg and Ragh districts of Badakhshan Province. Both districts rely almost exclusively on rainfed cereal cultivation and were badly affected by the drought. The assessment missions found no cases of outright starvation but did record an alarmingly high level of infant mortality due to a combination of diseases--mostly measles and acute respiratory infections--and a varying degree of chronic malnutrition. Adult mortality was limited to mainly elderly people.
The assessment teams found that food stocks are now nearing exhaustion. Most people now supplement dwindling food stocks with wild pulses and animal fodder, including a variety called pattak, which contains human neurotoxins and which has resulted in limb paralysis in some parts of Ragh. An estimated 70% of the livestock assets from both areas have been liquidated either through sale or consumption. It is estimated that all food stocks will be completely exhausted in a month at the latest.

Northeastern Afghanistan currently has about 100,000 people displaced by fighting in various locations. Over the last three months, displacement due to conflict or drought has occurred from parts of Ragh and Shar-i Buzurg to north Takhar, Kunduz and Pakistan. Those areas where it was possible to continue food for work (FFW) activities throughout the winter produced relatively small numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Overall, the economy in the area has continued to deteriorate. Agricultural production declined last year, causing a contraction of the regional economy, which made the region even more dependent on imports. However, conflict has interrupted trade on the region's two main commercial routes. The Taliban have blocked the internal route from Mazar through Taloqan, while the route from Tajikistan has been periodically blocked by conflict. Furthermore, the Pakistani authorities have prohibited the import of food from Chitral. As a result, prices have increased dramatically. In Faizabad, for example, wheat is twice the price that it is elsewhere in the country.

By the end of March, over 80,000 people displaced by conflict received 100 kilos of wheat from the World Food Programme. In addition, the NGOs Focus, Concern, ACTED, TDH/NPO and SNI have distributed complementary food. Most of the displaced are housed with host families, but approximately 3,000 families have remained outside, mostly under plastic sheeting, with a minority in tents. Public buildings were winterised in Faizabad, and 1175 damaged houses were repaired in Khoja Bahaudddin for IDPs. Medical services and non-food items were provided by a variety of agencies. There were, however, inevitably a number of areas where IDPs were located which proved inaccessible due to reasons of security, physical access or capacity.

FFW activities supported by WFP have been ongoing in some of the worst affected areas throughout the winter. In the more inaccessible and snow-bound areas, such as Ragh and Shar-i Buzurg, WFP was able to distribute 900MT before access was blocked by snow. In these areas, activities and distributions are presently re-beginning. WFP, though the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee and Oxfam, plans to distribute 1775 MT of wheat in these two districts between April and July. Emergency medical teams have been dispatched to Ragh and Shar-i Buzurg to respond to the measles outbreaks.

In Faizabad itself, where the urban economy has collapsed, and where food stocks in the bazaar are limited and prices high, WFP FFW activities, though the NGOs MCI and PRB, have also been increased.

For further information, please contact: Stephanie Bunker, Office of the UN Co-ordinator for Afghanistan, 2211451 x 415; mobile 03204 261325 Pippa Bradford, World Food Programme, 0320 4506324