The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, today called for urgent assistance to help save Afghanistan’s next wheat harvest, keep life-sustaining farm animals alive, and avoid a deterioration of the country’s already severe humanitarian crises.

FAO is seeking $36 million to speed up its support to Afghan farmers and ensure they will not miss the upcoming winter wheat planting season, and to assist the agriculture-based livelihoods of 3.5 million vulnerable Afghans until the end of the year.

«The window of opportunity to assist Afghan farmers before winter is very narrow. It is critical that support be scaled-up and speeded-up immediately. Without urgent and rapid assistance, farmers will miss this crucial planting season, which is just starting,» Qu told a High-Level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Geneva.

Some 70 percent of Afghans live in rural areas, with millions depending on agriculture for their livelihood. Over half of an average Afghan’s daily caloric intake comes from wheat, most of which is domestically grown.

The political turmoil in the country comes on top of a severe drought and the lingering economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning one in three Afghans — 14 million people — are already experiencing high acute food insecurity.

Read full article Afghanistan: FAO appeals for $36 million to urgently save rural livelihoods and avoid massive displacement at: fao.org