Millions of Afghans are facing hunger

KABUL, July 17: Millions of Afghans are facing hunger after drought destroyed much of the wheat crop, and a resurgent Taliban are likely to take advantage of the misery to bolster their insurgency, Afghan and foreign officials said.

The spring rains failed in many parts of the country this year just as the government and international military forces are struggling with the bloodiest phase of Taliban violence since 2001.

Afghanistan's harvest of rain-fed wheat is about half what it was last year and up to 2.4 million more Afghans are facing hunger as a result, agriculture and aid officials said.

Afghanistan had been expecting a cereals deficit of 500,000 tonnes this year but the shortfall has more than doubled.

''There is a deficit of 1.2 million tonnes this year regarding the cereal crop,'' an Agriculture Ministry official said yesterday.

''The weather has hit 50 to 70 per cent of the rain-fed crop,'' said the official, who declined to be identified.

Overall wheat production is expected to be 3.71 million tonnes this year compared with 4.27 million tonnes last year, he said. The rain-fed harvest is usually 1.6 million tonnes but is expected to be only 800,000 tonnes.

Afghanistan saw several years of serious drought up to 2005. Now villagers in parts of the country are saying ''the drought is back and the Taliban are back'', another official said.

Poverty is already a factor contributing to the revitalised Taliban and hunger is bound to compound the problem.

''It's very serious ... they can make use of it,'' the ministry official said of the Taliban.

''ALREADY HUNGRY''

The insurgency means aid agencies cannot reach parts of the south and east where the Taliban have infiltrated and are looking for support.

''There are many villages where, because development agencies can't operate normally in conditions of insurgency, people don't have enough to eat,'' a diplomat said.

''If the Taliban arrive with a little cash, that can be enough to induce people to join.'' The U N World Food Programme says there were already about 6.5 million Afghans facing hunger, either seasonally or long-term. The drought has added another 2.4 million people.

''That's very disturbing,'' said Charles Vincent, head of the WFP in Afghanistan.

''In some areas people are already hungry,'' he said.

In Badghis province in the west, people had started leaving their villages with their animals in search of food, he said.

''No one can afford to have hunger as another problem,''Vincent said, citing a link between hunger and security.

The government and the WFP are due to launch an appeal for more food aid this week to make up for the bigger-than-expected shortfall. Part of the shortfall will be covered by regular imports but part will have to come in the form of aid.

''We need to appeal to donors to prepare,'' the ministry official said.

Afghanistan's annual consumption of cereals, most of it wheat, is about 6 million tonnes.

REUTERS