Food stocks dwindling in northeast

As drought and war continue to take their toll, the United Nations has warned that food stocks in opposition-held in northeastern areas of Afghanistan were nearing exhaustion, forcing many residents to eat animal fodder. “Very few people have wheat or potatoes left to eat, which is why they are eating wild foods,” Stephanie Bunker, the spokeswoman for the Office for the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan, told IRIN. “Many have eaten their seeds, making the prognosis for the next harvest particularly bleak,” she said. Bunker’s comments follow recent inter-agency missions sent to Shahr-i-Buzurg and Ragh districts of northeastern Badakhshan Province to investigate famine reports from there. According to a statement issued by the Coordinator’s office on Monday, the teams found both districts almost exclusively reliant on rain-fed cereal cultivation, with food stocks nearing complete exhaustion. “Most people now supplement dwindling food stocks with wild pulses and animal fodder, including a variety called pattak, which contains human neurotoxins [and] which has resulted in limb paralysis in some parts of Ragh,” the statement said. Although the assessment teams found no cases of outright starvation, they did record an alarmingly high level of infant mortality due to a combination of diseases - mostly measles and acute respiratory infections - and a varying degree of chronic malnutrition, while adult mortality was limited mainly to elderly people. According to the UN statement, some 3,000 families are living in the open, most of them under plastic sheeting and tents, while most of the displaced are being housed by host families. Bunker added, however: “This is like displacement on top of displacement,” with many Afghans who have repeatedly and successively been displaced themselves taking people in. Seventy percent of livestock assets, the traditional source of income in this area, had been either sold or consumed, resulting in a continuing deterioration of the economy, the Islamabad-based Coordinator’s office said. According to Bunker, food security will remain a constant concern. “Most of the displaced people in this area will have missed the planting season, and will probably require assistance even through next winter. A moderate percentage of the population will not be able to obtain seeds. Consequently, even if there are good rains, the yield will be down.” The opposition Northern Alliance control only five percent of Afghan territory, including Badakhshan, this being the only province in the country completely under opposition control. Currently there are some 100,000 displaced people in northeastern Afghanistan as a result of drought and conflict, while in the Taliban-held areas the figure is closer to half a million.