Afghanistan: Winter Seeds Distribution

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is distributing high-quality certified wheat seeds to more than one million farmers across Afghanistan to ensure they are able to grow food during the spring season.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is distributing high-quality certified wheat seeds to more than one million farmers across Afghanistan to ensure they are able to grow food during the spring season.

2021’s harvest was severely hampered by the drought triggered by the La Niña weather event. Many farmers were not able to access sufficient seeds for the winter planting season due to limited seeds from their severely reduced harvests and/or due to less income.

Almost 23 million people in Afghanistan are experiencing acute food insecurity due to the combination of drought, COVID-19 and economic collapse.

More than 70 percent of people in Afghanistan live in rural areas. Agriculture is a crucial part of Afghanistan's economy with an estimated 80 percent of all livelihoods depending directly or indirectly on agriculture. It typically contributes more than 25 percent of total GDP. Both agriculture and livestock production have been severely affected by the ongoing crisis.

Afghanistan's harsh winter aggravates the situation of farmers and herder across the country. FAO’s emergency agricultural support to rural livelihoods is a core part of the humanitarian community’s assistance in Afghanistan and helps saves lives and protect livelihoods. The organization works with its partners to deliver assistance in all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces.

To provide assistance to the most vulnerable, FAO delivered wheat seeds, cash assistance and animal feed to farmers and herders across Afghanistan as well as technical training to improve production practices and increase yields, and to raise COVID-19 awareness.

SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Trenchard, Representative in Afghanistan, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“The wheat sector has really struggled this year, an acute drought, the economic implosion meant that yields were low. It meant that farmers have really struggled to produce food for themselves and for the market to raise incomes, but also to produce seeds for this coming harvest. This is why it's been so important that FAO has been able to increase its support to households working in 31 out of 34 provinces in Afghanistan.”

In 2021, FAO provided high-quality locally-adapted certified drought-resistant wheat seeds to over 1.3 million rural people and 700,000 people have received cash through either cash-for-work or unconditional cash transfers.

Each farmer received 50kg of wheat seeds to grow enough wheat to feed their families for a year.

This year, FAO will continue to provide assistance to farmers for the next spring wheat planting season aiming to reach another 300,000 farmers. FAO will also provide vegetable seeds and other seeds for the spring/summer growing seasons, as well as small farm equipment and poultry.

SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Trenchard, Representative in Afghanistan, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
“We've been able to reach farmers with seeds and also with fertilizers. This will ensure they have food. It will ensure also that wheat is in the market. It'll ensure importantly [that] they have seeds, good quality seeds for the coming seasons as well.”

FAO’s overall requirement for its humanitarian response in 2022 is USD 197 million. Agricultural seasonality and the critical situation facing livestock owners and herders across the country means that much of these resources are needed as a matter of urgency. If not, FAO fears that there is very real risk of agricultural collapse in several parts of the country which could lead to even deeper humanitarian catastrophe n 2022

In the first quarter of 2022, more than half of Afghans, some 55 percent of the population, are expected to be in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC 3 and 4), according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.

The IPC Acute Food Insecurity (IPC AFI) classification measures the levels of food insecurity that threaten peoples or livelihoods of people. In particular, the IPC classification distinguishes five phases of acute food insecurity: (1) Minimal/None, (2) Stressed, (3) Crisis, (4) Emergency, (5) Catastrophe/Famine.

High levels of acute food insecurity start from IPC Phase 3, that is the crisis level.