Economists warn of major food crisis in Afghanistan: Report

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned of a major reduction in Humanitarian Food Assistance to Afghanistan from 38 per cent to 8 per cent, reported Tolo News citing a report.

"At household level, the situation is compounded by the forecasted reduction of Humanitarian Food Assistance after the month of May. HFA is expected to decrease from 38 per cent of the population receiving on average two-third food ration in the current period to 8 per cent in the June-November projection due to lack of funding," the IPC report said.

In the report by the IPC Acute Food Security Analysis, it was said that nearly 20 million people of Afghanistan are poverty-stricken and suffering from hunger due to the economic crisis and drought in the country. The data was estimated between March 2022 to November 2022.

"In the current period, 19.7 million (47 per cent of the analysed population) were estimated to be in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or above. This includes 20,324 people in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe), 6.6 million people 16 per cent) in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) and 13 million (31%) in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis)," the report said.

Deputy Minister of Economy, Abdul Latif Nazari said, "We are trying through economic diplomacy to not only stop a reduction in aid but to increase it. The international community and the international organizations must ensure their human responsibility toward Afghanistan." as quoted by Tolo news.

Economists said that amid the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, several countries across the world are affected and raised the issue of food security. Developing countries like Afghanistan are the worst hit by this crisis.

An economist, Azeraksh Hafizi said, "There is a possibility of humanitarian catastrophe if the situations keep going like this" and suggested the Afghan government take immediate measures to tackle the problems. (ANI)