Resources to fund a 12-month emergency project beginning January 2023
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) receives notice of additional funding of more than $1.85 million from the Government of Japan to improve access and availability of nutritious food for vulnerable and food-insecure smallholder households in Afghanistan as well as protect their livestock.
The resources will fund a 12-month emergency project beginning January 2023. It will support 42,700 people from Kapisa province (Hissa-e-Awali, Kohistan and Nijrab districts) and Panjshir province (Rukha and Darah districts) who are food insecure and depend on livestock and poultry as source of food and income.
“We are pleased to announce additional funding from the Government of Japan to FAO to continue supporting the most vulnerable livestock keeping households in Panjshir and Kapisa Provinces to be food and nutrition secure,” said Takashi Okada, Japan Ambassador to Afghanistan.
Livelihood protection
This new project will protect key productive livestock assets and sustain subsistence production of nutritious food to ensure greater availability of dairy and meat products for households and communities as well as to mitigate the adverse impacts of recent multiple shocks including drought, floods and economic crisis, whilst enhancing household food and nutrition security and building the resilience of farmers against future shocks.
It will bolster both availability and access to nutritious food for vulnerable and food insecure smallholder households by protecting their vital livestock–based livelihoods through the distribution of nationally produced quality feed. The project will also provide farmers with key technical training and increase their access to local veterinary extension services. Backyard poultry packages, including chicken, feed and coops, will also enable households to improve their nutritional food intake, help generate vital cash incomes, and stimulate local food markets.
“We welcome the timely and continuous support of the Japanese Government in our work to secure Afghanistan’s food future. Responding to the deep food insecurity crisis with short-term emergency assistance is vital. But at the same time, now is the time to start laying foundations for the longer-term sustainable production of nutritious food for current and future needs, enabling households to re-build productive livelihood assets and stimulate local markets,” said Richard Trenchard, FAO’s Representative in Afghanistan.
In 2022, the Government of Japan contributed $14 million to FAO in Afghanistan to provide direct humanitarian assistance to over 550,000 food-insecure people in 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces in cooperation with Japan International Cooperation Agency.
