UN warns 2 million at risk of food insecurity in Afghanistan

At least two million Afghans are at risk of severe food insecurity due to a devastating drought in the country, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Farmers in some 20 Afghan provinces, mostly located in northern and western Afghanistan, have delayed planting or downsized their wheat cultivation, partly due to lack of rain and snowfall in the winter, the report said.

"The last [winter] harvest must be considered completely lost," said Abdul Majid from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

By mid-May, some 21,000 people were forced to leave their homes in western Badghes and Ghor provinces due to the drought, the report said.

Based on the findings of the humanitarian office, "some 1.5 million goats and sheep in north-eastern regions are struggling to find food and more than 600 out of 1,000 villages are suffering the lack of water."

Out of a total population of approximately 30 million, some 14.8 million people in the war-torn country are heavily reliant on agriculture either for labour opportunities or livestock, OCHA reported.

Some 115 million US dollars is urgently needed to provide those affected with food and shelter for the next six months, the UN said.

More than 108,000 people have been displaced by conflicts and natural disasters since the beginning of the year, according the latest report released by OCHA.

In 2017, more than 445,000 people were displaced due to conflict in Afghanistan.

More than 60 people died due to flash floods in across nine provinces in mid-May, the Afghan Natural Disaster Management Authority said.