UN Food Agency Pushes G20 To Aid Afghan Farmers Urgently To Prevent Hunger

Umer Jamshaid Published September 24, 2021 | 12:58 AM

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) chief addressed the G20 foreign ministers with a plea to support local food producers in rural areas of Afghanistan, where 70% of the population live, to avoid the risk of hunger in the country, the FAO said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2021) The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) chief addressed the G20 foreign ministers with a plea to support local food producers in rural areas of Afghanistan, where 70% of the population live, to avoid the risk of hunger in the country, the FAO said on Thursday.

An extraordinary virtual G20 summit on Afghanistan was initiated by Italy and was attended by the UN Secretary-General, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs, and G20 representatives.

"Failure to step up and speed up efforts immediately to support and salvage rural agricultural livelihoods will lead to enormous increases in hunger and malnutrition, massive displacement and vast increases in acute humanitarian situations going into the winter season," Qu Dongyu said, as cited by the FAO.

The official also mentioned the long history of the FAO working in remote rural regions of Afghanistan and urged the G20 to allocate resources to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the tumultuous nation, and facilitate the rebuilding of a sustainable agriculture system.

"Agriculture provides livelihoods, either directly or indirectly, to nearly 80 percent of the Afghan population. Agriculture can and must play a central role in addressing the root causes of repeated humanitarian crises," the FAO chief added.

The wheat harvest in 2021 is expected to be a quarter less than on average, due to war and a drought that has hit 25 provinces out of 34. The FAO is still rendering financial assistance to over 1.9 million people in need, and has made an appeal for extra $36 million to provide Afghans with "fertilizers, seeds and livestock protection."