USAID provides US $16m for drought-stricken people

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is supplying 27,010 mt of food aid worth more than US $16 million to help millions of drought-stricken people in Afghanistan. The contribution comes after a joint appeal by the United Nations (UN) and the Afghan government on 25 July for $76 million to feed 2.5 million people. Government officials said that the 2.5 million people affected by drought was in addition to the 6.5 million people who were seasonally or chronically food insecure in the country. “This assistance from the people of the US will contribute to the urgent needs of millions of Afghans affected by this year’s harsh drought and food insecurity,” Idrees Ilham, USAID's public information officer in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said on Thursday. Officials have warned that the inadequate rainfall in April and May could wipe out 50 percent of this year's wheat production. The wheat harvest accounts for 80 percent of the country's cereal production. Afghanistan's Ministry of Agriculture and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization have estimated that there could be a shortfall of 1.2 million mt of cereals. An estimated six million mt of cereals would be needed for consumption this year, but only 4.8 million mt produced. Ilham said USAID's latest contribution was in addition to the $20 million it pledged to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in late July. The aid would include wheat, cooking oil and other foodstuffs. The US government, through USAID, is the major supporter of WFP in Afghanistan. It has contributed food aid and cash valued at more than $57 million since October 2005.