Millions of Afghans are facing hunger after a complete failure of the harvest in parts of the country, according to an emergency Christian Aid assessment.
The field survey in 66 villages in the west and northwest of the country has revealed that in the worst affected areas, farmers have lost 100 per cent of their crops, after a failure of the main rains last winter and spring.
People are already going hungry, while farmers and agricultural labourers are migrating out of drought-affected areas in search of work. Livestock farmers are either selling their animals or moving them to areas with pasture and water, which is exacerbating existing food shortages. Children, pregnant women, landless families and the elderly are the groups whose health is most at risk, according to the assessment.
'People are not dying of starvation yet, but it is very obvious that a great deal of help is needed or the situation will become very serious within a few months,' said Sultan Maqsood Fazel, Christian Aid's advocacy officer in Afghanistan. 'Meat is scarce in some areas and people are telling us that their food supplies will not last much longer.'
'There is a shortage of water in rivers and wells and the rapidly falling water tables have resulted in an acute shortage of drinking water and water for irrigating farmland,' said Dr Ahmad Zia Shams, programme manager in Herat for Christian Aid partner organisation Agency for Humanitarian and Development Assistance in Afghanistan (AHDAA), which builds irrigation systems and provides drinking water.
Christian Aid is funding several projects in Herat province to dig new wells or expand existing ones. We have already started contacting donors to raise funds to provide assistance to those affected by the drought and will launch a joint appeal with other agencies later this month.
Money is needed immediately for drinking water, food, animal fodder and counselling as well as for longer-term priorities like healthcare and agricultural improvement work.
Christian Aid is calling on international donors, including the UK government, to pledge money to the emergency drought appeal launched by the UN and Afghan government, who have asked for 76 million dollars.
'This week the world will clearly be remembering the terrible events of Sept 11, 2001 in New York and Washington,' said Christian Aid spokesman, John Davison.
'We would ask them also to remember that five years ago, there was a drought in Afghanistan that threatened the lives of five million people. While much has happened on the international scene over this period, once again we are facing a serious drought threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions in Afghanistan,' he added.
In 2001 Christian Aid launched an emergency appeal for Afghanistan which raised =A33.79 million. This money was spent on emergency drought assistance, as well as longer-term rehabilitation projects.
In July, the United Nations and the Afghan government warned that more than 2.5 million people are facing food shortages and are in need of immediate assistance.
This is on top of the 6.5 million Afghans living in rural areas who already suffer every year from chronic or seasonal food shortages. Many of the provinces affected had only just recovered from a previous drought, which ended in 2003.
Christian Aid, along with its local Afghan partners, carried out the drought assessment in five provinces in the west and northwest of the country - Herat, Ghor, Farah, Badghis and Faryab - where more than a million people are thought to be affected by the drought.
In Herat, Badghis and Ghor most water sources have completely dried up, so people are having to travel long distances to find drinking water. In some parts of Faryab province the wheat harvest is down 90-100 percent.
In Herat, the rain-fed harvest loss is 90-100 per cent while the harvest from irrigated land is 40 per cent down. In Ghor, there is 70-90 percent decline in the harvest.