Ahmad Qurishi
HERAT CITY: Officials in western Ghor province said thousands people face life threatening hunger due to drought and lack of food items.
They warned if food stuff did not arrive on time a humanitarian disaster might take place.
Keramuddin Razazada, deputy governor of Ghor told Pajhwok Afghan News over 80 per cent of people in the province face hunger and huge population of the province, particularly in remote areas are forced to eat grass.
He added besides the food crisis, due to the drought the level of ground water has deepened and most of wells in the province dried.
Razazada warned if the situation persisted mass displacement could take place.
He said the population of the province was about 800,000 in 11 districts, mostly depending on agricultural harvest, but drought has severely hurt the agricultural infrastructure of the province.
Muhammad Aslam Arianpur, head of agriculture and irrigation department of Ghor said that this year the rain was 209 mm, while it was necessary to have at least 250 mm rain to prevent drought.