Overview
The information gathered relates to the following indicators:
- Food Consumption Scores
- Caloric Intake/Value
- Food Expenditure
- Food Sources
- Cereal Availability/Balances
- Rainfall and Snowfall
- Market Prices
- Asset Ownership
- Coping Strategies
Highlights
- This food security monitoring exercise was conducted using information from interviews of 1,616 households in 34 provinces (month 10 of the 2007/2008 NRVA data), inaddition to various secondary sources.
- A limited set of vulnerability indicators were selected to provide an update on the food security situation and the food price increase impact in vulnerable areas.
- Current FSMS data suggests that:
- On average 35% of households eat below their dailyrequirement. This is a 5 % increase from the NRVA 2005 and it is similar to the FSMS bulletin Round 5.
- Overall, 43% of the sampled households are characterized by poor food consumption score.
- Sixty eight percent of Afghan households have poor food access, 21 percent have average food access and 11 percent have good food access.
- Households in west central part of the country spent more than 75% of their incomes on food, while the average national proportion of income spent on food is 67%.
- Production of cereals in 2007/2008 is estimated at 3.9 million tones, of which wheat is 2.8 million tones (72%). Compared to 2007, overall reduction in wheat production is estimated at 36%, with 68% reduction in rain-fed wheat and 20% in irrigated wheat.
- On average 64% of households have less than 4 assets.
- General inflation (food and non food) increase by 42.3% compare to the same months last year.
- Between September and November 2008 the average prices of wheat flour decreased by 3%.
- The terms of trade between wage labour and wheat in all major markets have decreased by an average of 39 percent.
- Unusual high food price and drought were the most commonly reported shocks experienced by sampled households.
- Reduction of food quality and quantities, purchasing on credit and reduced discretionary expenditure were the main coping strategies across the country.