Food Package

 

Help us provide essential food items for malnourished men, women and children unable to sustain themselves with a regular meal due to food shortage and rising inflation.  

In March 2012, the Afghan Ministry of Economy and the World Bank published a joint report about poverty, rising food prices and food availability in the country. The report confirmed that there was a severe problem with malnutrition and food security in the region.

Wages of ordinary Afghans no longer cover essential food items. The problem is worse for those living in rural areas, especially in the villages around Kandahar and Helmand.

There is little incentive for local farmers to produce more food as the Afghan economy is still largely dependent on the illegal trade of opium. 90% of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan, and poor farmers are able to earn more from opium production than wheat or rice.

As a consequence, Afghan children under five years have one of the highest levels of chronic malnutrition in the world:

 

                  72 percent suffer from key micro-nutrient deficiency

                  54 percent are chronically malnourished

                  34 percent are underweight

The current food shortage in Afghanistan is similar to that found in famine zones. 

According to the Afghanistan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), 29.5% of Afghan children are suffering from acute malnutrition - 30% is the threshold for declaring a famine.

Aryana Aid has been supplying emergency food packages to desperate people in Afghanistan since 2009.

Our volunteers provide locally sourced rice, flour, tea, sugar, cooking oil and meat for the most vulnerable communities in the region.

Meet Sartaj:

'The food shortage in Afghanistan is hurting the weak and vulnerable', explains Sartaj, a business owner and a volunteer with the charity.

'I volunteered with the World Health Organisation before I joined Aryana Aid, and witnessed firsthand the impact rising food prices is having on the health of ordinary Afghans.

'Aryana Aid works closely with local people to address the worse cases of malnutrition in the community.

'We also buy food from local vendors to keep down our costs and boost the local trade'.