The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is further stepping up efforts to boost food security and support for agriculture-based livelihoods of vulnerable rural communities in Afghanistan most severely affected by continuing drought, deep economic crisis and the devastating impacts of the recent deadly earthquake.

A new USD 14 million contribution from the Government of Japan will provide direct humanitarian assistance to over 550 000 food-insecure people in 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces in cooperation with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).  It will support vulnerable, smallholder and landless farmers, including women and persons with disability-headed households, directly dependent on farming, herding as well as landless people who are dependent on agriculture-based labour.

These 11 targeted provinces all experience acute food insecurity (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 3+ as per IPC analysis of May 2022). According to this latest IPC survey, 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 and are often forced to resort to desperate measures, such as selling of livestock (as a distress coping mechanism), food reserves and other vital livelihood assets.