Thursday, November 29, 2001
Afghan wheat production crippled
BANGKOK
THE WAR in Afghanistan has crippled the country's agriculture as fearful farmers have refused to work on the fields while the pre-winter planting season slips by, a top UN official said on Wednesday.
With fields lying fallow, Afghanistan will produce nearly 40 per cent less wheat, the country's staple food, next year, said Ram Badan Singh, the assistant director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
"The violence of hunger is more pervasive than the ugly face of war, weapons and terrorists," Singh said. "What is worse is that incipient hunger is the silent killer," said Singh, who is based in Bangkok.
He said even though international donors will help out the starving Afghans, the delivery of the food will continue to be a problem until security situation improves.
The FAO says that even before the US strikes, Afghanistan was already gripped by a grave food crisis caused by three years of drought and two decades of war and civil strife, which forced about 3 million people to become refugees in neighbouring countries.
Singh said the planting of wheat and other crops should have been over by now before winter set in. But, he said, many farmers couldn't work the fields while the United States was bombing the country in its war against terrorism including Afghanistan's former rulers, the Taliban, and their ally, Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
He said the total food requirement of Afghanistan's 22 million people is about 5 million tons of grains a year, predominantly wheat, supplemented by fruit and vegetables.
With an expected fall of 35-45 per cent in wheat production during the May-June 2002 harvest, there will be a shortfall of 2.5 million tons, which will be provided by donors, he said.
Already, India has pledged 1 million tons of grain and Thailand will send 300,000 tons. The United States, Canada and Australia will surely send more once the war stops, he said.
He said Afghanistan's agriculture and irrigation system can be brought back to normal to bring about food self-sufficiency in two to three years, provided a stable government takes over Afghanistan soon.
"In two to three years we can put back the entire Afghanistan agriculture back on track," he said. "It can be brought back to normal. But the rider is that peace must return. Otherwise the violence of hunger will continue."
Talks to determine the shape of Afghanistan's future government started in Germany between representatives of four of the country's main ethnic groups. Singh said the irrigation canals damaged by war will have to be repaired, the fertilizer distribution system has to be put in place and roads and bridges must be rebuilt. ( AP )
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