Agriculture
Emergency Food Security Project (EFSP)
Our Goal
Food insecurity remains persistently high in Afghanistan, where nearly half of the population face crisis or worse conditions. The poor, especially those in rural areas, are hardest hit by food insecurity. Acute food insecurity affects 40 to 50 percent of the total population, doubling from 2015 to 2020–21. Climate change and lack of institutional capacity exacerbate this problem by impacting agricultural productivity, water availability, and rural livelihoods. In this context, the World Bank’s support focuses on improving resilience of the agriculture production system for selected beneficiaries.
How We Deliver
The support is being delivered through two key components: (a) restoring agriculture production, and (b) provision of water and resilience services.
Restoring agricultural production involves expanding the distribution of wheat inputs and climate-resilient smart crops and training. These measures will increase and stabilize wheat production and support diversification into horticulture, improving access to nutritious food and income sources.
Provision of water and resilience services involves promoting access to improved irrigation facilities and watershed management practices and improving water security for agriculture. This includes resilience-building support in watersheds by promoting agroforestry and erosion control facilities. This will ensure availability of water and resilience of landscapes, e.g., through reduced degradation, erosion, or improved soil health, in the context of climate change. Production systems will become resilient to economic, social, environmental, and climatic shocks, with an increased adaptation capacity.
A resilient production system will contribute to beneficiaries’ food security in the short term by providing cash-for-work opportunities and increasing household income and, thus, access to food. In the medium to long term, the increase in the availability of food and improved access to food in local markets during crises will strengthen food security.