Investing in Rural People in Afghanistan
Publisher: International Fund for Agricultural Development
Date: 2020
Topics: Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
Countries: Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain and a population estimated at around 38 million in 2020 (Worldometers, 2020). Its tough landscape and frequent natural disasters present a challenging context to a country already struggling with its political environment and in the midst of conflict and instability.
In Afghanistan, a low-income country with a GDP of US$19.1 billion and GNI per capita of US$540 in 2019 (World Bank, 2020), international aid continues to finance 75 per cent of public expenditures. The post-conflict reconstruction process, financed largely by foreign aid, shifted the economy away from agriculture and towards the services sector. Currently, the services sector accounts for 50 per cent of GDP, followed by agriculture, which contributes about 25 per cent.
Agriculture remains the foundation of Afghanistan’s economy and employs 40 per cent of the national labour force. Almost 70 per cent of the rural population depends mostly on agriculture. The crops are mainly rainfed, which makes agricultural output and GDP growth highly volatile and weather-dependent. Crop agriculture is constrained by poor irrigation, and irrigated land is particularly limited in the north of the country. Livestock products, which contribute more than 50 per cent of agricultural GDP, have fluctuated widely owing to precipitation levels and droughts. Rangeland is overgrazed, and nomadic and semi-sedentary shepherds are experiencing high livestock mortality rates.
In rural communities, the lingering impact of drought, combined with years of conflict, widespread displacement, exposure to flooding and the subsequent interruption to agriculture, has resulted in high levels of hunger and malnutrition. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 25 out of 34 provinces are currently above the emergency threshold for acute malnutrition.