Due to the insufficient availability, limited access, poor diets and inadequate utilization of food, and unstable food supplies caused by disasters that render large segments of the population vulnerable, the government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has expressed its commitment to enhancing food and nutrition for Afghan People through this Afghanistan Food and Nutrition Agenda (AFSANA) in 2012.; The goal of AFSANA is to ensure that no Afghan suffers from hunger and every Afghan is well nourished at all times.; The strategic objectives are: (i) assure the availability of sufficient food for all Afghans, (ii) improve economic and physical access to food, especially by vulnerable population groups, (iii) ensure stable food supply over time and in disaster situations, (iv) promote better diets and adequate food utilisation particularly by women and children.; Corresponding priority intervention for achieving these objectives are: (i) promotion of domestic food production and stable food imports, (ii) creation of employment and income opportunities, provision of productive and social safety nets and targeted food subsidies, (iii) integrating of strategic grain reserve programs into national response to food emergencies, enhanced household and community resilience in emergencies and development of an integrated framework for disaster preparedness and response, and (iv) improvement in the quality of diets, care and feeding practices for infants and young children and self-care for pregnant women and adolescent girls, assurance of the healthy absorption of nutrients through infections prevention, and improved food safety and quality controls.; In order to eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, a number of key strategies will be implemented by the government in order to ensure that no afghan suffers from hunger and well nourished at all time. The strategic objectives and related targets of AFSANA are as follows: (i) assure the availability of sufficient food for all afghans, the target is to increase food production by 20% within five years, (ii) establishment of effective disaster preparedness and response mechanism including a strategic grain reserve with an initially targeted volume of 200,000 MT and strengthened resilience of rural population against shocks, (iii) promote healthy diets and expanded access to improved water, sanitation and health services to ensure adequate food utilisation and enhanced nutrition particularly of women and children.; In order to make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the government envisages interventions to be applied in designing, planning and implementing agricultural development among others, the following strategic approaches: (i) accompanying food production expansion interventions with improvements in agricultural and rural service delivery in relevant field (i.e. extension, credit, input supply, pest and disease control), advocating a close, two-way interaction between research and extension to improve farmer advisory services and supporting adequate number and requisite capacity building of support staff, (ii) developing and promoting improved production technology packages, based on farming systems research, which take the specific needs, constraints, capacities, resources, livelihood conditions, and coping mechanisms of farmers and their households into consideration and local environmental conditions into account, (iii) promoting farmers’ organizations (self-help groups, common interest cooperatives, special women farmers associations) in order to link farmers to markets and strengthen their bargaining powers, (iv) promotion of appropriate land use practices in irrigated and dry-land farming (e.g. watershed management).; Regarding the reduction of the rural poverty, the government plans to implement the following strategies: (i) improve vulnerability assessment, particularly targeting criteria and capacity, to enable appropriate identification of vulnerable people.; To enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the government plans to mitigate the negative consequences on food security of potential export trade restriction and to improve functions of food markets by: (i) development of rural infrastructure and improvement in functioning of agricultural marketing systems, (ii) negotiate trade arrangements with major supplies that guarantee minimum levels of food supplies at prevailing market prices or preferential rates, (iii) invest in marketing infrastructure such as roads with regional trade implications as well as processing and storage facilities needed to add value to wheat and other cereal, (iv) improving the regulatory environment, beginning with an assessment of the recent realignment of responsibility for specific aspects of food safety and quality and including establishment of the requisite policies and standards, (ii) facilitate the participation of all social groups, particularly women and the disabled, in these activities through skills development and other measures.; In the context of governance, institutionally arrangements for coordinating this AFSANA will be led at the national level by a high level food and nutrition security steering committee (FNSSC), a Food and Nutrition Security Secretariat (Secretariat) attached to the FNSSC and food and nutrition security Focal Points (FPs) at each core ministry or agency. Corresponding to the FNSSC at the sub-national level will be a Provincial Food and Nutrition Security Committee (PFNSC) which will work with district and community authorities for coordination of FNS issues at the periphery.
Afghanistan Food Security and Nutrition Agenda (AFSANA) 2012.