Provision of emergency agricultural support to vulnerable households in Ghor Significantly lower than average precipitation, intensifying conflict dynamics, and ongoing waves of Covid-19 infections have led to a crisis situation in Ghor province, which has seen widespread illness and mortality, a deep economic recession, and starkly reduced income opportunities as a result. The ICCT Spring Disaster Contingency Plan already noted Ghor as a high priority province, and the situation in the province continues to be severe as indicated by the latest IPC Acute Food Insecurity Analysis Report (issued in April 2021), food security is unlikely to improve in the near future, as IPC projects that Ghor will be in Phase 4 (Emergency) for the June-November period, and the approaching lean season will reduce income opportunities and food availability even further. Communities are already faced with depleted productive assets and reduced capacity to cope with shocks ahead of the winter season the FSAC Pre-Lean Season Assessment indicates that communities have faced more shocks and are more vulnerable than last year, with a large portion of households reporting reduced agricultural production. 

In line with FSAC priorities detailed in the Allocation Strategy Paper, Afghanaid proposes to provide crucial agricultural support in the form of in-kind wheat seed, fertilizer and vegetable seed packages for 3771 vulnerable households in Dolayna, Dawlatyar and Lal wa Sarjangal districts of Ghor province. The participant selection criteria will follow FSAC beneficiary selection priorities, focusing specifically on women-headed households, people with disabilities, and households with decreased or disrupted incomes. The full set of selection criteria will be agreed on by the participant selection committee detailed below. In line with FSAC instructions, FAO will provide the wheat seed and fertilizer packages for this response, whereas the vegetable seed packages will be procured by Afghanaid. 

Afghanaid will establish participant selection and distribution committees including representatives from local communities, such as the leaders of Community Development Councils (CDCs) and District Development Assemblies (DDAs), representatives of local government such as the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) and the Deportment of Refugees and Repatriations (DoRR), and Afghanaid. 

The distribution committee will oversee the distribution of assistance at centrally located, easily accessible distribution points. The committee will verify that assistance is only given to selected beneficiaries. Participants with limited mobility will be brought to the distribution point or receive the assistance at home. 

Afghanaid is well placed to implement this project, with over 19 years of continuous presence in Ghor, recent operations in all target districts and excellent access and strong relationships with communities as well as district and provincial authorities. Afghanaid has extensive experience in humanitarian programming, with current and recent humanitarian assistance projects in multiple provinces including Ghor, funded by AHF, WFP and FAO. These projects include emergency food, livelihoods, winterization, and shelter assistance responses, using both in-kind and cash modalities.

This intervention will provide 26,400 men, women, boys and girls with crucial agricultural assistance, helping target households meet their basic needs, reducing illness and mortality, and increasing participants’ capacity to rebuild their livelihoods and avoid the sale of productive assets so that they are more resilient against future shocks.