Officials of afghanistan's Taliban interim government say the wheat gap in Afghanistan currently stands at 2 million tons, and Afghanistan has banned wheat exports to neighboring countries, including Pakistan, to ease the food crisis at home.
A spokesman for Afghanistan's ministry of agriculture said Afghanistan now needs to import more than 2 million tons of wheat to feed its population, and the government has banned the export or smuggling of wheat to neighboring countries due to a sharp reduction in wheat production this year.
Afghan Ministry of Agriculture spokesperson Mstin:
The wheat crop is not yet fully harvested, but according to our preliminary statistics, Afghanistan's wheat harvest this year is about 4 million to 4.5 million tons, and we still need to import 2 million to 2.5 million tons of wheat from abroad to fill the gap. At present, the Minister of Finance has ordered strict prevention of border smuggling and that no one is allowed to smuggle or export wheat.
Some Afghan farmers expressed support for the government's initiative to prevent wheat smuggling, because this year's drought has caused a sharp decline in wheat harvests. Failure to take action to curb smuggling will further exacerbate the afghan food crisis and increase the number of people who do not have enough to eat.
Shabugar Khan, an Afghan farmer:
There is a drought here this year, it is definitely necessary to import wheat from abroad, last year's harvest was better than this year, it is very necessary to prevent the smuggling of wheat, but the problem is that every wheat harvest season, people start to smuggle wheat to Pakistan, which has caused us many problems, and we ask the government to take measures to prevent such smuggling.
A U.N. food agency official said that as the situation in Russia and Ukraine has taken more damage to the global economy, Afghanistan has also become a victim of a chain reaction in the conflict, where farmers are struggling with rising fertilizer prices in addition to soaring food and fuel prices.
Source: Phoenix TV Zhang Tingfeng Reported in Islamabad, Pakistan
Editor: Erya Wang