UN
Peace Day 2009: "help Afghans finally find the peace they have been longing for"
16 September 2009 - As Peace Day 21 September approaches UNAMA is featuring articles from UN agencies on the work the UN is doing for peace in Afghanistan. 7: World Food Programme
There is an Afghan proverb which says, “Every anguish passes except the anguish of hunger.” And this is why the work of World Food Programme (WFP) continues each day of the year, as every day millions of Afghans feel the pain of hunger.
Peace Day may be assigned to one calendar date but the concept should be respected every day.
There is no doubt that one of the most challenging goals for Afghanistan is to find a lasting peace. Three decades of conflict have divided, scattered and compounded the hardships felt by the population who already suffer from the effects of natural disasters, drought, and more recently, the impact of high food prices.
All of these factors have had the same result – more people have been forced into a situation where they cannot access or afford enough nutritious food to ensure their health and stability.
Over the past year, the number of food-insecure people in the country receiving help from the World Food Programme has risen to 8.8 million – its highest level since WFP started operating in Afghanistan in 1963.
Increased insecurity has hampered WFP’s activities in volatile areas of the country. As threats to operations have increased, so have the measures taken to ensure the safety of WFP staff, as well as the determination to deliver food to the most vulnerable people in those regions.
Despite the increased cost and dangers associated with delivering food to insecure areas, food assistance continues to reach all 34 provinces of Afghanistan.
Food is vital to the development and sustainability of a peaceful existence as people need to have their basic needs met.
Last year, as a reaction to the global high food prices, people spilled onto the streets and rioted in many developing countries. This year – with the added burden of the global financial downturn – it is expected that the number of hungry people world-wide will top one billion.
One way to promote stability is to raise the economic growth potential of a country, and one of the most cost-effective ways to do that is through food and nutrition programmes. Investment in long-term agricultural production is important, but even if food productivity is doubled in developing countries, hungry people still need food on their plates today.
WFP’s food assistance has increasingly moved away from providing relief alone, towards aligning food assistance with development and helping people to establish livelihoods. The benefits are felt by individuals and communities alike – giving them an element of independence and enabling them to be better placed to deal with other life challenges.
Combining food with education, training, health, construction and environmental concerns allows food to be a useful and far-reaching ‘tool’ that interconnects WFP’s activities.
Through WFP’s school meal programmes, the children living in the most food-vulnerable areas are given high energy biscuits so that they can concentrate better in class. They are also provided with a take-home ration as an incentive for their families to keep them in school.
This will permit them to complete their education, thus improving their future prospects of earning a decent living and, in turn, being able to buy enough nutritious food for their children.
Through Food-For-Work, constructing an irrigation canal helps with the production of crops leading to better harvests, with food provided for those involved in the immediate work. Better crop production helps the families of the local farmers and, in turn, boosts the local economy.
Food-for-Work is one of the major components of WFP’s programme in Afghanistan, with its beneficiaries accounting for almost half of the total 8.6 million people who received WFP food assistance in 2008.
Due to the bumper harvest this year, WFP aims to buy some food locally from areas that have a surplus of wheat. This will boost the local economy and help small-scale farmers with their sales while encouraging them to produce more crops.
Environmental degradation of Afghanistan’s countryside has taken its toll on the production of crops, soil erosion and the loss of natural vegetation. Through activities including watershed projects and tree planting, WFP is helping to reverse some of that damage.
Afghanistan’s capacity has been suppressed for so many years, damaging its basic services and infrastructure and, foremost, its people. Increased food security will strengthen this country’s ability to deal with shocks, both man-made and natural, and help Afghans finally find the peace they have been longing for.
By Stefano Porretti, WFP Representative in Afghanistan
