55% Afghani citizens expected to face food insecurity soon, UN report says

“The country is currently facing the second drought in four years and the worst of its kind in 27 years,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said in a situation report. “An estimated 22.8 million people, or 55 percent of the population, are expected to be in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity between November 2021 and March 2022, a nearly 35 percent increase from the same season last year (16.9m),” the report added.

“Even prior to the events of 15 August, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was one of the worst in the world. By the mid-year mark, nearly half of the population were already in need of humanitarian and protection assistance in 2021,” the report further noted.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general pointed to reports that showed isolated clashes and violence affecting civilians and resulting in casualties continued across the war-torn country this week, according to a report by news agency ANI.

Further, the report also said that issues related to food security were driven largely due to drought and even after the harvest, as much as 57% of the households did not have food reserves to last for three months.

Also, the situation is expected to deteriorate in 10 out of the 11 most populated urban areas, the report said. “In urban areas, income loss (driven by economic shocks) has contributed to the rapid deterioration in food insecurity,” the report showed.