Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, rainfall since November has been below average across the country although with a somewhat regular distribution which benefitted crops. Despite this rainfall deficit, biomass of (mostly irrigated) winter cereals is close to or above average in most regions except in the northwest (from Jawzjan to Hirat) and partly in the north (Balkh, Baghlan). Planting of spring wheat has started or is about to start depending on the altitude and according to the Copernicus C3S multimodel seasonal forecast, dry conditions are to be expected for April and May.
Afghanistan continues to face high levels of hunger with about 15 million people estimated in acute food insecurity (IPC phase 3 or above) as a result of a severe economic and social crisis (combined with climate change, gender inequalities, rapid urbanization, return of refugees from Iran and Pakistan) according to the latest IPC analysis.