020820 U.N.: Afghan Meat Supply Threatened

Rome (AP) - Three years of drought in Afghanistan pose a serious threat to the country's meat supply, and imported livestock might spread animal disease, U.N. food agencies said.

Livestock numbers have dwindled by 60% since 1998, following the drought which wiped out the range vegetation and feed crops, said a report issued jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, both based in Rome.

"Lack of rain has affected crop production drastically," said Shukri Ahmed, the report's author and an economist with the FAO. "Livestock numbers have been decimated."

As a result, prices for meat have shot up by at least 30%, the agencies said.

Afghan merchants have been importing poultry, sheep and cattle from Iran and Pakistan, but those animals are not quarantined, posing health threats to local animal populations.

The two U.N. agencies called for "urgent and appropriate veterinary and control measures" to prevent the spread of disease among animals in the country and across borders.

"We are asking the (Afghan) government and the international community to help Afghanistan to have a protective quarantine, with border checks and good veterinary controls," Ahmed said.

The agencies also predicted that 6 million people in Afghanistan out of a population of 21.8 million people will continue needing food assistance over the next year, despite a significant improvement in agricultural production this year.

Despite the central government's instability, regional conflicts between tribes and warlords and a locust outbreak in March in some parts of the country, production increased by 82% over last year because of more rain and snow, the report said.

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