Economy

WFP, FAO provide poultry packages to over 500 women in Kandahar

By Rahimullah Khpelwak

As the economic crisis deepens in Afghanistan, the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have launched an initiative to distribute backyard poultry packages to needy women in Kandahar, Afghanistan. During the first phase of the initiative which kicked off November 23, as many as 588 people -- including 530 women -- received the assistance packages in Kandahar city's 15 districts. [Rahimullah Khpelwak/Salaam Times]

KANDAHAR -- As the economic crisis deepens in Afghanistan, the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have launched an initiative to distribute backyard poultry packages to impoverished women in Kandahar.

During the first phase of the initiative, which kicked off November 23, as many as 588 people -- including 530 women -- received the assistance packages in Kandahar city's 15 districts.

The project will be implemented in districts across Kandahar province in the future.

Each package includes 30 pullets, 150kg of poultry feed, three wooden beams for roofing, and three feeders and drinkers (feeding and watering equipment for chickens).

A woman sits next to backyard poultry packages she has received from the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on November 23 in Kandahar city. [Rahimullah Khpelwak/Salaam Times]

A woman sits next to backyard poultry packages she has received from the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on November 23 in Kandahar city. [Rahimullah Khpelwak/Salaam Times]

The same assistance was given to 588 women in Bamiyan province, the FAO announced Monday (November 28).

Most of the women who received the assistance lost their husbands during the fighting of 2001–2021 and are their family's sole breadwinners, Mohammad Hamid, director of the Animal Husbandry unit in the Kandahar Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, said.

"The hens are expected to lay eggs so that the receiving families can sell them in the market every day. Each family will earn more than 300 AFN ($3.37) daily from selling the eggs," he added.

"They are very poor and deserve this aid ... which will transform their household's economic situation," he said, adding that more families will be later covered under the initiative.

Hamid said these families will eventually be able to breed chickens with the hens they own, raise them, sell their products and earn more income.

In August, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) contributed $80 million to the FAO programme to improve food security and nutrition for Afghans and to deal with the impact of drought on agriculture.

Fighting poverty

Recipients of the programme's assistance said they hope the income from their backyard poultry farms will help them save their families from poverty.

Kafiya, 32, who is disabled, lives with her disabled husband and four children under seven years old in a mud house in Kandahar city's fourth district.

Her family is facing extreme poverty and she intends to make ends meet by raising chickens and selling eggs, she said.

"Winter is approaching, and I don't know how we might survive the cold weather. Hopefully, I can use the income from the assistance to buy food and warm clothes [for my family]," she said.

She said she will set up a poultry farm in her backyard so that she can closely monitor and take good care of the chickens.

Gul Dasta, 41, another poultry package recipient, said she will also use the income from selling the eggs to buy food and clothes for her six children.

"There is not enough food at home to feed my family. Sometimes, we don't even have a loaf of bread to eat," she said.

"People are very poor in my area, and they cannot find food for days. They cannot even afford to buy a kilogramme of onions to eat with bread," Gul Dasta said, adding that she is thankful for the assistance from the WFP and FAO.

Need for more assistance

With the deepening economic crisis over the past year, most Afghans have faced extreme poverty and hunger. But as winter approaches and temperatures drop, concerns about the deterioration of living conditions increase.

Half of the Afghan population of 40 million is acutely food insecure, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a tweet on November 21 said, noting that as the winter sets in, the lives of millions of Afghans will be at risk.

"In #Afghanistan, pneumonia and malnutrition cases amongst children are spiking. Cold weather and economic hardships make families face an impossible choice: eat or heat," ICRC Afghanistan said in another post November 24.

Almost 80% of the Afghan population may not have access to heating materials to keep their homes warm in the winter, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) recently warned.

In a statement released November 22, the WFP announced it has pre-positioned food assistance in mountainous and remote areas to reach 2 million Afghans in these areas until April 2023.

Across Afghanistan, the WFP will support 15 million Afghans this winter, it added.

There is no hope other than humanitarian assistance from the international community to save Afghans in the winter months, said Khairullah Noorzai, an economist in Kandahar city.

Most Afghans have lost their jobs and income and depend on aid, he said.

"Unfortunately, the economic crisis is worsening. There is a dire need for more assistance from the international community. Reaching a political settlement is a must to end the ... crisis in Afghanistan," he added.

"Afghans have become a burden on the international community, and this disastrous situation must end," Noorzai said. "For how long can donor countries and relief organisations keep providing Afghans with money and food?"

The only way to end the crisis is the establishment of a government acceptable to the Afghan people and the international community in order to create employment and normalise relations with the world, he said.

Do you like this article?

3 Comment

Comment Policy * Denotes required field 1500 / 1500

The customs tariff of tomatoes and onions imported from Pakistan was reduced from 20 to 5%, and on the other hand, the tariff of Pakistani onions increased significantly. Positive and commendable steps were taken. Onions and tomatoes are basic food items that become cheap for common people in the market with customs reduction, and if they export any of them, they become so expensive that many people cannot afford it to buy it according to the current economic conditions. This example and action against the rival country is admirable and it means taking revenge of your pomegranate and sweet grapes. Many of Kandahar's pomegranates and grapes were destroyed due to the closure of the Chaman road in the convoys of lorries that were stopped by the Pakistani authorities.

Reply

In Afghanistan, the level of unemployment has reached its peak. There are families who cannot prepare even one meal for their children. Many families in the provinces have lost their heads in the wars of the last 20 years. These families have young children and they are not able to work. The World Food Program welcomes this program which gives each woman 30 chickens and 150 kg of chicken food, as well as maintenance equipment, as an aid to the women of Kandahar province on behalf of the World Food Program. This program can help the women of Kandahar province, which can always provide a loaf of bread for their families. From this chicken farm, they can grow their family's economy. The World Food Program should provide this type of assistance to women in other provinces of Afghanistan too. We Afghans are always grateful for the help of the United Nations' organizations, which stood with the war-torn people of Afghanistan in all kinds of situations and did not leave us alone. I hope you will not leave the United Nations of Afghanistan alone, as the people of Afghanistan are facing economic problems, and this type of program can have a positive role in the economy of Afghanistan and reduce the level of poverty in Afghanistan.

Reply

Such small works are the first steps to improving people's businesses. And it is the utmost good work. Instead of a woman standing and begging people, this kind of work can change her life. We request those organizations that distribute money or food items to the people in the name of humanitarian aid. Instead, they should start doing this kind of work in which the dignity of the people is preserved. Their children are not forced to beg. Thanks to both of these organizations for their work.

Reply