Integrated Food Security response to drought affected farmers and families in Badghis The 2017 Seasonal Food Security Assessment (SFSA) indicates that drought conditions in Badghis Province have severely affected already vulnerable households in Mugur, Qala-I-Naw, Ab Kamari and Qadis Districts, particularly subsistence farming families. Lower than projected snowfall over the period December 2016 to February 2017 has been compounded by deficient seasonal rainfall during March 2017 and April 2017 resulting in very low soil moisture leading to poor germination and growing conditions for food crops and fodder vegetation reliant on rainfall.

The ability of farming families to cope with this shock is limited and has triggered negative coping mechanisms as families sell livestock and essential household items to buy food. 
WV will address the immediate humanitarian needs of drought-affected farming families in Badghis and prevent loss of life as a consequence of acute food insecurity through the provision of essential food item packages as per the FSAC cluster. WV will also assist drought-affected families to achieve enhanced resilience to future shocks through the introduction of improved drought tolerant wheat seeds coupled with training on improved agriculture practices. 
 
The interventions WV propose will prevent or minimize the mass emigration of drought affected populations from Badghis province, therein reducing the likelihood of humanitarian services being burdened in neighboring province. The summary of interventions include the following:

In-kind food distribution: WV proposes to distribute food rations to 1400 households in Muqur, Abkamari, Qadis and Qala i Now. The food ration will be as per the FSAC standard ration with a landed cost of $90/Household/Month. Priority will be given to most vulnerable households, including households headed by women, households headed by the elderly, households with disabled household members and other vulnerable households as identified by Community leaders. WV will distribute rations for 2 months (January and February) to guarantee household access to food during the lean winter period. 

Beneficiary identification and verification: Project inception will begin by sensitization stakeholders at Provincial level in Badghis, particularly DoWA, DRRD, DoLSA among other key Government departments. This will be followed up by district level sensitization with District Governors as well as key community leaders including CDCs and Shura. The key output of the district sensitization of a list of vulnerable food insecure households who meet the agreed selection criteria as guided by the HEAT tool. WV will verify all households identified by the Community Leaders and then identify the 1400 most vulnerable households. From these 1400, 500 households with a good agriculture production track record but without access to agricultural seeds will be selected and these will be identified by the community leaders. The project will also verify these households.

Food distribution: WV will conduct once-off distribution, providing 2 months ration for targeted households. WV proposes to conduct in-kind food distribution as the food stocks in badghis province are limited due to the drought which has affected the province over the last 3 years. 

Training on improved agricultural practices: The project will train selected households on improved agriculture practices, particularly focusing on the use of drought tolerant and climate sensitive production skills to enable farmers to withstand the effects of drought in future. This will be coupled with distribution of drought tolerant wheat seed to the same 500 trained households