The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported on Friday that approximately 14.2 million people in Afghanistan are currently experiencing acute food insecurity, Anadolu Agency reported.
According to FAO country representative Richard Trenchard, this figure, which represents 37% of Afghanistan’s population, indicates a positive trend compared to the earlier 2022 statistics when almost 23 million people, comprising 55% of the population, faced acute food insecurity.
Trenchard highlighted the significant decrease in food insecurity, describing it as unprecedented in scale and speed. He attributed this improvement to the resilience of Afghanistan’s farmers and citizens, better climatic conditions, stabilisation in the Afghan economy, and substantial levels of humanitarian and non-humanitarian aid.
Despite the progress, Trenchard emphasised that Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most severe food insecurity crises. Over 2 million individuals still confront emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC4). He cautioned that the food security situation remains precarious, primarily due to the risk of climate-induced and other shocks, as well as economic fragility.
Trenchard stressed the importance of ongoing investment in humanitarian food assistance and emergency agricultural aid to sustain the positive trend in reducing food insecurity.
