Provision of food and agriculture assistance to locust affected population in Dawlatyar and Feroz Koh districts in Ghor. The proposed intervention provides food assistance and agriculture inputs to 2,860 vulnerable families affected by a recent locust infestation in Dawlatyar and Feroz Koh districts in Ghor over a period of seven months.
The initial estimation of the population affected by the locust infestation is about 7,000 families. The infestation has destroyed field crops and led to the loss of food, income, and seeds for the next planting season. Based on our consultations with Department of Agricultural, Irrigation and Livestock (DAIL), Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), and representatives of Community Development Councils (CDCs) in both districts, Afghanaid plans to assist 2,860 most vulnerable families (Since the average number of an Afghan family is 7, a total of 20020 individuals will benefit). Two forms of assistance will be provided in accordance with their particular needs: 1) food packages for 408 food insecure sharecropper families who lost their harvest, 2) provision of agricultural inputs for 2,452 families with land whose lost crops have left them unable to replant for next season.
The final criteria for beneficiary selection will be agreed with key stakeholders including DAIL, regional FSAC, ANDMA, and DDA, and will be communicated to OCHA and FSAC for their feedback and approval. Afghanaid will conduct a household level verification and needs assessment of the affected population in September 2016 in coordination with DAIL, ANDMA, the Provincial Governor’s office, communities and FSAC to identify the final beneficiaries.
Afghanaid will distribute two rations of standard FSAC food packages to the 408 most vulnerable sharecropper families who lost their income to the locusts and are identified in the household verification assessment. Afghanaid will make the first distribution in October and the second towards the end of November. The identified 408 families are made up of 122 in Feroz Koh and 286 in Dawlatyar. As sharecroppers, these families do not have land but in accordance with local practice they will be provided with agricultural inputs by their respective landowners. For this reason they do not require agricultural inputs.
Agricultural input will be distributed once to vulnerable families with land who do not have the resources to replant without assistance, so that they are able to cultivate the land and plant during the autumn season. MAIL/FSAC standard agricultural kits will be distributed to 613 families in Feroz Koh and 1,839 in Dawlatyar. In addition, Afghanaid will train these beneficiaries on modern agricultural practices including pest management and plant protection for locust control. Afghanaid scales down the operation in target districts during 3 months winter break (January to March 2017). However, the project Coordinator and management at head office will continue to review monitoring, communicate with the donor, with line ministries and prepare activities plans for the months after the break.
Afghanaid will carry out the post distribution monitoring survey at the end of each distribution as well as crops germination survey at the end of the project. Coordination will be maintained during project implementation, particularly with DAIL, PPQD unit in MAIL, ANDMA, OCHA, WFP and the FSAC, Nutrition and the NFI clusters, and also with ACF, CRS, CHA, Christian Aid and STAR working in Ghor. As the NSP Facilitating Partner, Afghanaid has established strong relationships with local authorities for over 16 years, giving us unique access and depth of knowledge of the area. We have carried out food and improved wheat seed distributions over the last several years for WFP, FAO and MAIL in the targeted districts. Afghanaid under FAO funded project in 2014 implemented ‘Improving Access to Agricultural Inputs of Vulnerable Rural Household and Disaster Affected Farmers’ in districts of Chaghchran, Dawlatyar and Dulayna and covered 210 villages with 7,000 beneficiaries.