Inputs The main source of traction reported by Afghan households is animal 54,

Afghanistan NRVA 2005 55 Figure 14: Households experiencing drinking water shocks last 12 months Water quality and quantity problems exist throughout the country. More than half of the households reported poor water taste and drought in Badghis, decreased water table in Laghman and drought in Zabul during the previous year. The map depicts a horizontal and almost continuous strip, from Farah to Badakhshan, provinces in the strip have shown less water shocks, while those above and below the strip have shown higher 25-50 incidence of drinking water shocks. Figure 15: Households experiencing insecurity as shock last 12 months The provinces adjacent with Pakistan generally show the highest insecurity. Afghanistan NRVA 2005 56 Security has been an issue for more almost three decades. There is a clear pattern of insecurity perceived by the households in the southern and central parts of the country. Idiosyncratic shocks are distributed in two more or less continuous bands oriented in a southwest to northeast direction. In the west, Nimroz, Farah, Hirat in the north, Faryab and Jawzjan present higher incidences of idiosyncratic shocks. Similarly, in the southwest, Kandahar and other parts of the country provinces like Ghazni, Daykundi, Logar, Kabul, Nangarhar, Bamyan, Baghlan and Kunduz present high incidences of these shocks. Figure 16: Households experiencing idiosyncratic shocks last 12 months This report does not characterize the vulnerability of different domains or populations by province to different shocks or even suggest that there is a preconceived idea of how to cope with risk in a systematic manner. Rather, it shows that diversification of income or livelihoods can be used to understand how households have reacted to mitigate risk and vulnerability. Income or livelihood diversification is an ancient response to coping with uncertainty. Data from NRVA 2005 for the four working categories in this report Kuchi, rural, urban and national can be used to assess frequencies of households that declared activities within each of the eight groups of sources of income mentioned in section 3.7. For example, if a household has livestock production for home consumption and sells livestock products, it is recorded as a household with only one source of income livestock, despite having two activities within that group. If the same household grows, processes and sells opium, it will count opium as a second source of income. If this very same household has one or more members engaged in non-farm labour clerk, accountant or teacher, the household accrues one more point towards this group of income. The spread in sources of income is a way to quantify livelihood diversification. It does not require monetary figures, but registers the presence or absence of means to sustain the household economy.