- General Description of Badakhshan Province
Badakhshan is located in the north-eastern part of Afghanistan and is one of the most remote and least developed provinces in Afghanistan. In the north, it shares a border with Tajikistan and on its northeast and southeast lie China and Pakistan respectively.
According to the Badakhshan Provincial Development Plan the province has a population of 823,000 residents living in 28 districts. Around 86% of the population lives in rural areas where agriculture is the main source of income. The terrain is extremely mountainous with very little arable land available for cultivation. The population relies primarily upon subsistence farming with rain-fed wheat and barley being the main crops grown, supplemented with small scale livestock rearing. Agriculture productivity is low, with limited access of the population to seeds, technology and irrigation water.
25% of households do not have access to land and this limits their ability to grow adequate food for their own consumption. Non agricultural capabilities are very limited, which makes income diversification to other commercial activities difficult on the short run. There are high levels of unemployment and underemployment which contribute to increased food insecurity and growing poverty.
Many communities live in isolated areas with little economic activity, limited access to markets, difficult or no access to health care services due to long distances and there are still many areas with poor access to safe drinking water.
Market access is hampered by lack of road networks, with only 1 quarter of roads open year round and 1 quarter of the districts having no year round roads.
Badakhshan province has very cold harsh winters and is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, droughts and floods. The spring of 2011 has seen low precipitation and higher than normal temperatures in April and May which have resulted in stressed rain-fed wheat crops. The May 2011 FEWS (Famine Early Warning System) Food security outlook lists Badakhshan as stressed, with the possibility of localized crop failure. The June FEWS food security alert warns that northern Afghanistan will experience heavy losses in wheat production. Households are expected to confront food deficits in the early winter months. The June EWIWG (Early Warning Information Working Group) food security update anticipates that the normal 3-4 month food gap will double, lasting to 6-8 months for the next year. Households dependant on rainfed crops and on-farm labour as a primary source of food and income will likely need assistance as early as the fall. The onset of winter and the associated loss of access to markets will make isolated rural communities especially vulnerable.
In response to this poor outlook, Afghanaid and Medair undertook this rapid drought assessment to gather information about the current situation and to gather predictions for the near future.