KABUL - Around 200,000 families have been hit by drought nationwide, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) said on Sunday.
Officials in MAIL said while wheat crop has been the same compared to last year, but poor harvest of rain-fed wheat in a number of provinces has caused food shortages. MAIL is planning to start grain distribution to destitute people from northern Jawzjan province, which seems to have been hit by drought.

Under the plan MAIL will distribute 50,000 tones of cereal to drought-affected people. The International Community will also be urged to help supply food to hardly-hit regions.

"The outreach programs will first begin in regions where cultivation of rain-fed wheat has been severely hit by drought," Agriculture Minister, Mohammad Asif Rahimi, said. According to predictions made by MAIL, Afghanistan this year needs more than six million tones of cereal to overcome drought.