IRIN
AFGHANISTAN: Living with the drought in Ghazni
13 September 2004


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

GHAZNI, 13 September (IRIN) - Baz Mohammad is looking for work, even 
though he is only 10. He was forced to leave the village school just 
outside the provincial town of Ghazni after his father died - a victim of 
the drought that is devastating this part of south-central Afghanistan. 
His 34-year-old father died two weeks ago after falling into a deep well 
used to irrigate his small garden and wheat field.

The death of Gul Mohammad, the sole breadwinner in his family, is not the 
only example in an area where deep wells are the only way of obtaining 
water for irrigation. Local people told IRIN that at least five people had 
died in similar accidents involving unmarked, unfenced wells over the past 
12 months.

Southern and eastern Afghanistan are the areas worst affected by drought, 
the United Nations said earlier this month when appealing, along with the 
Afghan government, for US $71 million to help 6.3 million Afghans affected 
by a drought now in its sixth year.

Grain prices in these regions increased by about 50 percent in recent 
weeks, making them too expensive for many villagers, the UN said. About 37 
percent of Afghanistan's 28.5 million people are classed as "food 
insecure", twice as many as a year ago, the UN warned.

Traditionally, agriculture in the region has been nourished by a system of 
canals bringing surface water to the fields, but more than 95 percent of 
such waterways have dried up in Ghazni as a result of the six-year drought 
that continues to undermine food security and health.

Digging deep into the earth for water is the only alternative to 
starvation for many rural people. But now such wells have to reach down at 
least 30 metres - twice the distance of just two years ago - to draw 
precious ground water to the surface.

Even drinking water is becoming increasingly hard and energy-consuming to 
find for people already weakened by malnutrition. "I go to a water source 
over that mountain to bring drinking water every day. It takes me three 
hours to reach the water with two donkeys," Amiro, an emaciated farmer 
with seven children, told IRIN, pointing to a distant hill south of his 
village in Waghez district.

The number of Afghans needing assistance is increasing as refugees return 
home from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. On 2 September, the UN 
registered the one millionth Afghan refugee to return home from Iran since 
its repatriation programme began in April 2002. More than 2.1 million 
Afghans have returned from Pakistan, according to the office of the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Livestock herds are also rapidly shrinking due to a lack of water. "Our 
village had 102 cows before these years of drought. Now, we have only two 
cows out of that number," Safar Ali, an elderly farmer from Jaghori 
district, said.

Traditional coping mechanisms have also been blighted, leaving a 
vulnerable rural population. "Those who had fruit trees as a means of 
ensuring some income during difficult times have suffered the severest 
losses because there is no water to irrigate the trees now," Ali added.

Those with the means have left the region, while those without are lucky 
if they can turn a family member into a labour migrant. "I was pretty 
well-to-do five years ago thanks to my small orchard of grapes. But now, I 
cannot water the orchard and I am in debt to every person left in this 
village," Abdul Hakim, 56, said. His only alternative is to send his son 
to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to make money.

Some relief supplies are reaching the region but not nearly enough, local 
officials say. "Several hundred trucks loaded with wheat and cooking oil 
came last month from Pakistan for the drought-affected people of Ghazni 
and Wardak provinces, but it was too little to meet the needs of the 
people," Qadir Ghazniwal, Ghazni's provincial planning chief, told IRIN.

The country's minister of rural development, Hanif Atmar, recently called 
on people badly affected by the drought in southern provinces to remain in 
their villages where possible as urgent aid was imminent. "Thirty-seven 
percent of people in villages have lost access to food," the minister 
said, adding that an estimated 4,000 families had been displaced already 
from their homes in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand due to 
a lack of food and water.


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