AFGHANISTAN: WFP assists thousands short of food

KANDAHAR, 19 July 2006 (IRIN) - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has provided more than 2,000 metric tones of food to nearly 150,000 people in southern Afghanistan through its Food-for-Work (FFW) projects since the beginning of the year. The UN Food agency said on Tuesday that the projects were aimed at improving local communities in the southern province of Kandahar. Food was exchanged for work on irrigation systems, road rehabilitation, the digging of wells and reservoir construction. People in the region were suffering from food shortages as a combination of drought and the conflict between the Taliban and US-led coalition further eroded the ability of families to produce food. “These activities are on the one hand an employment-based safety net and on the other creating resources for food insecure people,” said Abdi Farah, the regional head of WFP in Kandahar. Farah said that the projects were temporary, lasting between three and six months. However, since January 2006 FFW had helped 149,730 people. They had received 2,085mt of assorted food commodities such as wheat, pulses, oil and iodised salt. But Farah said that due to the growing insecurity and fighting, WFP had been unable to deliver 240 mt of food to thousands of people in the Chora district of Oruzgan province in central Afghanistan. In 2005, the Afghan government estimated that at least 470,000 people in Kandahar province do not have enough food. FFW operates projects in the Reghestan, Dand, Daman and Arghandab districts of Kandahar province.