KABUL, 10 January 2008 (IRIN) -

The Afghan government has asked the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to increase its food aid from the previously planned 180,000 to 215,000 metric tonnes (mt) in 2008, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL).

The request came after soaring food prices led to concerns about food shortages, particularly during the winter months when some remote locations become inaccessible due to heavy snowfall and flooding.

Afghanistan is among 40 countries in the world which, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), face "unparalleled hikes in food prices resulting from low food stocks, floods and droughts linked to climate change, high oil prices and rising demand for bio-fuels".

"We have asked WFP to import 60,000 mt of wheat into Afghanistan within the coming three months and distribute it in the most vulnerable areas," Obaidullah Ramin, minister of agriculture, irrigation and livestock, told reporters in Kabul on 9 January.

WFP's office in Kabul was not immediately available for a comment. However, aid agencies' in the recent past have expressed concern over lack of access to some isolated and vulnerable communities due to armed conflict and natural disasters.

"Afghanistan does not face a famine"

Owing to several consecutive years of favourable weather and development assistance, cereal production in Afghanistan has seen an unprecedented increase over the past six years, FAO and MAIL reported in August 2007.

Despite this, to effectively feed its estimated 24.5 million population, Afghanistan needs another 500,000 mt of cereals, of which 430,000 mt is wheat, Ramin said.

"Part of the overall shortage will be met by WFP's food assistance and part of it will be tackled through imports from other countries," he said.

The Afghan authorities have also decided to establish a "strategic food storage" facility where initially some 146,000 mt of wheat will be stored for use in emergencies, officials said.

"Afghanistan does not face a famine," said minister Ramin, adding that the government and its international partners had multiple strategies to avert food shortages during winter.

Impact of Pakistan crisis

Afghanistan imports over 80 percent of its wheat flour from neighbouring Pakistan due to its own very weak milling industry, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) reported in May 2007.

The worsening security situation in Pakistan, particularly in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, has led to reduced Afghan food imports which in turn have caused rising food prices in Afghanistan, officials said.

Some Afghan traders say the Pakistani authorities have doubled taxes on flour exports to Afghanistan in an effort to control soaring food prices in Pakistan.

In some Afghan provinces food prices have jumped by as much as 45 percent in the past year, MAIL officials said.

"Pakistan wheat policies have implications for both national and household food security in Afghanistan. The consistent and abundant supply of wheat and wheat flour from Pakistan keeps the prices stabilised and at affordable level in Afghanistan markets," said the USAID report Pakistan Wheat Sub-sector and Afghan Food Security.

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