Share |

Photo: IRIN

KABUL, 14 August 2006 (IRIN) - The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has allocated $11 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for drought-stricken Afghanistan, it was announced on Monday. The CERF aims to provide a more timely international response to humanitarian crises.

The contribution came after a joint appeal by the United Nations (UN) and the Afghan government on 25 July for $76 million to feed and assist more than 2.5 million drought-affected people.

Much of the country's wheat crop has failed this year because of lower than expected snowfall during the winter and poor spring rains, leaving thousands of families hungry.

“Drought devastates communities in many ways and leads to spiralling impoverishment,” Margareta Wahlström, the UN's assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, said from New York.

Households consumed their harvests much sooner than usual, which led to increased malnutrition, seeds were eaten before the next planting season and animals and household goods were sold and people migrated to the cities, Wahlström said.

The World Food Programme (WFP) was to receive $10 million of the donation to provide food for 1.7 million people in 13 of the worst drought-hit provinces, while the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) would receive the remainder to provide further aid.

OCHA said the $200,000 given to UNICEF’s therapeutic feeding programme would help 2,000 severely malnourished children in the Sari Pul, Samangan and Ghor provinces.

Aleem Siddique, a public information officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), praised the CERF allocation but called on donors to provide further help.

“While we welcome the $11 million from OCHA, there is a pressing need for further funds if we are to raise the $76 million that we need to reach rural communities before the winter sets in. Therefore we ask those donors who are able, to step forward and help,” Siddique said.

Officials have warned that inadequate rainfall in April and May could wipe out 50 percent of this year's wheat crop. The wheat harvest accounts for 80 percent of the country's cereal production.

Afghanistan's Ministry of Agriculture and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that there could be a shortfall of 1.2 million mt of cereals in 2006. An estimated six million mt of cereals would be needed but only 4.8 million mt produced.


SM/SC