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7.2 Current food security
Table 7.2 shows that food-insecure households are distributed across all population groups of Afghanistan.
Overall, an estimated 7.6 million people or 30.1 percent of the Afghan population are very severely to moderately
food insecure. Of these, 2.2 million people or 8.5 percent are very severely food insecure, as they consume on
average less than 1,500 Kcal per person per day. In relative terms, more urban households, including the peri-urban population, are food-insecure than their rural and Kuchi counterparts. A total of 34.4 percent of the urban population are
food insecure compared to 29.1 percent of the rural population and 25.6 percent of the Kuchi population. However, in terms of absolute numbers, there are more food-insecure people 5.2 million living in rural areas, where 72 percent of
the country’s population resides, excluding the 5 percent Kuchi population. The Kuchi are slightly but not signiicantly better off compared to the rural and urban populations. An estimated 350 thousand Kuchi and1.7 million urban residents
are deined as food insecure.
Table 7.2: Population with types of food deiciency, by residence
Residence Calorie deiciency
food insecure Protein deiciency
Calorie and protein deiciency
Millions Percentage
Millions Percentage
Millions Percentage
Urban 1.7
34.4 1.3
21.3 1.2
20.3 Rural
5.2 29.1
3.4 19.1
3.3 18.2
Kuchi 0.4
25.6 0.2
15.3 0.2
14.5 National
7.6 30.1
4.9 19.4
4.7 18.5
The majority of people facing caloric deiciency are also affected by inadequate protein consumption
3
across all population groups. In total, 4.9 million people or 19 percent of the Afghan population do not meet the daily protein requirement of
at least 50 grams per person per day from the available food basket. Among them, 4.7 million are facing both calorie and protein deiciency. Inadequate protein consumption will particularly affect children under ive years of age, who
account for 21 percent of the surveyed population under the NRVA analysis. This means at least 1.5 million under-ive children reside in food insecure households, of which more than 900 thousand children are living in households where
the consumption of protein and calories are both inadequate, and hence, they are likely to be vulnerable to malnutrition.
By population group, 1.3 million or 21 percent of the urban population are protein deicient. Among the 2.1 million urban food-insecure people, 1.2 million face both protein and caloric deiciency. For rural areas, 3.4 million or 19 percent of
the rural population are protein deicient. Among the 5.2 million rural food-insecure people, 3.3 million face both protein and caloric deiciency. The Kuchi population has a better protein consumption with some 0.2 million or 15 percent
facing protein deiciency, and almost all of these show both protein and calorie deiciency.
3 Protein thresholds applied for calculating protein deiciency were: ‘Very severe deicit’ is considered as 50 of protein requirement consumption
25gramsper personday; ‘Severe deicit’ is of 25 to 50 of protein requirement consumption of 25 to 37.5gpersonday; ‘Moderate deicit’ of 25 of requirement consumption of 37.5 to 50 gpersonday and ‘Acceptable’ consumption ≥ 50 grams per person per day.
MDG Indicator 1.9
Percentage of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption
30.1
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FOOD SECURITY
7.3 Distribution by region
The highest proportion of food insecure people is reported in the North-eastern region 46 percent, followed by Central Highland region 39 percent. The largest number of food insecure population of 1.7 million people is in the North-
eastern, followed by 1.6 million people in the Central and 1.1 million in the Central Highlands region Table 7.3.
Table 7.3: Food-insecure population, by food-security status, and by region
Residence Food-security status
Very severely food insecure
Severely food insecure
Moderately food insecure
Total food insecure
1,000s Perc.
1,000s Perc.
1,000s Perc.
1,000s Perc.
North 221
6.2 327
9.2 491
13.8 1,039
29.1 North-East
684 18.3
561 15
466 12.5
1,711 45.8
Central Highland 426
15.2 301
10.8 352
12.6 1,080
38.5 Central
305 4.6
529 8.1
752 11.5
1,587 24.2
South 40
4.1 57
5.8 135
13.8 232
23.7 East
155 5.5
209 7.4
308 11
672 23.9
West 185
6.1 213
7 326
10.7 724
23.8 South-West
135 7.2
201 10.8
264 14.1
599 32.1
National 2,152
8.5 2,397
9.5 3,095
12.2 7,645
30.1
7.4 Comparison of food security between NRVA 2011-12 and NRVA 2007-08
Figure 7.1 presents insights into changes in food insecurity severity among population groups when a comparable method for calculating food insecurity of NRVA 2007-08 and NRVA 2011-12 is used.
4
Based on this comparable analysis, the total food insecurity prevalence has increased from 28 percent to 30 percent over this period. This can be attributed
to the deterioration of food security caused by the 2011 severe drought in 14 northern provinces of the country, most of which are usually surplus producing areas. The Rapid Emergency Food Security Assessment REFSA Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan, WFP and Food Security and Agriculture Cluster 2011 that was conducted in November 2011 estimated over 2.8 million drought-affected people across 14 provinces who required food assistance.
The largest deterioration in food security based on caloric consumption occurred in urban areas, where the proportion of the food-insecure population increased from 28 percent in 2007-08 to 34 percent in 2011-12. One among the reasons
for the signiicantly increased food insecurity in urban areas includes the different sample design applied in these two NRVA surveys. In the NRVA 2007-08 urban areas were a separate analytical domain covering 11 provincial main
cities, while the NRVA 2011-12 did not have urban as separate analytical domain. Urban areas of all provinces had a proportion sample to size of the urban areas. Food insecurity in rural areas did not change signiicantly 28 percent in
NRVA 2007-08 and 29 percent in the present survey. Food insecurity among the Kuchi populations, however, improved by two percent points to 25.6 percent from 27.5 percent in NRVA 2007-08. The reason for this could be consecutive good
pasture conditions in the years 2009, 2010 and 2012.
4 I.e. based on adjusted calorie requirement to sex, age and winter temperature, excluding Helmand and Khost provinces, and applying individual weights.
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