Gone with the drought

“This is a different [kind of] year for us,” says Din Mohammad, 75, with obvious disappointment. “[All of] my agricultural products were destroyed and I harvested nothing.”

Mohammad lives with his ten children and extended family. The only occupation he has ever known is farming.  He planted wheat, cumin and chickpeas eight months ago with the anticipation of a good harvest, enough to sell and still have some left over for the family. But an unprecedented drought - affecting almost all of the farmers in Badghis Province – has crushed their hopes.

The UN has stated that the recent devastating drought has placed two million people in 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces at serious risk. In Badghis alone, at least 450,000 people face food and water shortages, including more than 32,143 children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, some of whom are suffering from malnutrition.

Mohammad’s life, and by extension the lives of his family members, depends entirely on livestock and agriculture. Before the drought he had around 200 sheep, two cows, five donkeys and ten chickens, but he has since had to sell more than 100 of his sheep, both cows and three donkeys, all of which fetched a lower price in the local market. With shortages in feed, the remaining livestock are becoming malnourished and weak. “The drought has caused me to lose my entire investment,” he says. It required years of struggle and hard work to build his resources, only to “lose them in the blink of an eye.”

Additionally, the drought has taken a serious toll on water reserves with shortages impacting countless families. Mohammad’s community draws from a single spring which they share with livestock. Villagers have to walk two kilometres to fetch water. “It takes three hours for my youngest son and I to reach the spring. Saeed [9] goes early morning and I go in the afternoon.” Mohammad reports that all of the wells near the village have dried up and water levels are getting lower every day.

Drought conditions have resulted in the displacement of around 20,000 people from Ghor and Badghis provinces, forcing them to flee to Herat with the hope of finding food, water and medical care. Three members of Mohammad’s village left for Iran after their farms dried up. “They went to look for day labour. Some of my relatives went to Herat province.” He says that if conditions worsen and the government doesn’t provide assistance, his family might also be forced to leave their home, pulling up the only roots they have in a desperate search for water.

  Currently, WVA is mobilizing donors and World Vision Support Offices around the world to seek funds and support to respond to the urgent needs of vulnerable people in Badghis. WVA is focusing on the provision of safe drinking water and emergency food rations in order to meet the most urgent humanitarian needs. .