Fighting and drought leave Afghanistan with grave food crisis: UN food agency
8 November -- Ravaged by severe drought and continued fighting, Afghanistan faces a serious food crisis which is likely to worsen without international assistance, a United Nations agency warned today.
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) issued a special alert on the grave situation facing Afghanistan, where this year's drought has decimated crops and livestock while intensified fighting is pushing people from their homes and aggravating their precarious food situation.
Destitute people who have left their homes in remote areas are being housed in camps outside the city of Herat, according to FAO. The agency estimated that some 2,000 families are in the camps, with more expected in the coming months. In the area of Dari Suf, a number of starvation-related deaths have been reported.
While some 250,000 tonnes of emergency food aid has been pledged for Afghanistan, FAO estimates that the country will need another 1 million tonnes to meet its food requirements over the July 2000 to June 2001 period. Of that, the World Food Programme (WFP) needs at least 115,000 tonnes to continue its live-saving programmes. So far this year, WFP has distributed 110,000 tonnes of food aid to 2 million of Afghanistan's worst affected people.
In view of the rapidly deteriorating food supply situation, FAO urged donors to make additional pledges and support the speedy delivery and distribution of relief assistance, particularly during the coming harsh winter months.
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