ReliefWeb

IN NUMBERS

• The food security situation is deteriorating. In the past month:

• 95% of households do not have enough to eat
• Seven in ten households have been forced to limit portions, resort to cheaper food and to borrowing food
• Five in ten households have run out of food at least once in the last two weeks

• US$ 200 million urgently needed to cover needs until the end of the year.

Situation Update

Food security is deteriorating sharply in Afghanistan. Only 5 percent of Afghans now have enough to eat.
As of mid-September, 95 percent of Afghans have insufficient food consumption. This is an alarming increase of 15 percentage points compared with before 15 August. The vast majority report having insufficient money and means to buy food.

The struggle that Afghans face to feed their families is stark:

− Roughly three out of four households now limit portion sizes (almost double that prior to 15 August); many adults are eating less so their children can eat more.

− Households headed by women, on top of all they are going through, are skipping meals, and reducing their portions far more than those headed by men.

− Three out of four households are also borrowing food (76.7 percent up from 60 percent) or consuming cheaper food (74.5 percent up from 56 percent).

− Furthermore, the number of households employing three or more distress coping mechanisms also doubled from 32 percent to 65 percent.

Hunger is cutting across educational and urban-rural divides. While 96.7 percent of households headed by less educated members are experiencing insufficient food consumption, a high number (88.4 percent) of households headed by a member with postsecondary school education are also experiencing the same. Both urban and rural families are facing insufficient food consumption (95.3 and 94.7 percent, respectively). This trend is likely to continue in the weeks to come as more jobs are lost, salaries go unpaid, and the cash liquidity crisis bites harder.