FEROZKOH: About 3,000 drought-affected families in western Ghor province have been provided with basic food items based on a survey, an official said on Monday.
Deputy Governor Ghulam Mohammad Paiman said aid to the affected families from Ferozkoh and seven other districts included wheat flour, cooking oil, salt and powder provided.
Around 150 kilograms of flour, 15 litres of cooking oil and one and a half kilogram of washing powder were delivered to each deserving household by an NGO named Afghan aid.
Meanwhile, resident of Ghor sought more assistance to come out of the situation they are in as a result of the worst drought in several years.
Abdul Hameed, village council chief for Pasaband district, said their crop yield had considerably declined and they need substantial assistance from the government and NGOs.
Majority of Ghor people, reliant on agriculture and livestock, meet their economic needs by selling their produce.
The drought has landed them in serious financial trouble.

Parts of the coast, ranges and slopes of New South Wales and Queensland have gained some decent rain in the past few days and most places have a chance of more in the next few.
Some spots near the coastal border have seen more than a month’s worth in one or two days.
It is also its biggest rain in 10 months and biggest for September in more than 25 years.
Both Cape Byron (68mm) and Yamba (65mm) have also gained more than a month’s worth of rain in under two days.
Falls of 10-30mm have scattered as far south as Sydney and 10-20mm as far inland as the Guyra, Murrurundi and Katoomba.
The rainfall has been patchy in nature, typical of showers and storms.
Lismore, less than 30km from Ballina, has only gained six millimetres in the same time.
This system will weaken over the next few days, causing showers and storms to ease and become even more patchy.
However, later in the week another low pressure trough will move in from the west, bringing showers and storms to a similar region.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2018

A Queensland dairy farmers collective is calling on Australians to shell out more loose change for milk with a 10 cent levy per litre to go directly back to farmers in drought.
Over 10,000 people had signed the change.org petition seven days after it was established by the QDO to help farmers cope with the soaring cost of grain and fodder for milking cows.
The QDO said they were inspired to establish the campaign following a recent viral video from Kyogle dairy farmer Shane Hickey in which he outlined his struggles.
"Shane hit the nail on the head with his first viral video," QDO president Brian Tessmann said in a statement.
"People now get just how underpaid our farmers are and have shown that they want to do something to help."
The petitions calls on Coles and Woolworths to collect the levy by increasing prices and for milk processors to guarantee to pass the full amount back to farmers.
"We believe a holistic solution involving industry and government is needed to drive meaningful and long-term reform in the dairy sector," a Woolworths spokesperson said in a statement.
The company says it has raised more than $7 million for Rural Aid to assist farmers, while Coles said it had contributed almost $11 million in donations, grants and interest-free loans to farmers and rural communities affected by drought.
Mr Tessmann backed the increase, saying grain prices had doubled, and hay in NSW and QLD was almost not securable even as prices had gone up "astronomically".
"We are hoping to give it a few weeks and then go back to the supermarkets, they are the key to it.

5th warmest winter on record for maximum temperatures In the warmest ten winters for NSW, QLD, SA, and NT Rainfall below average, 8th driest for NSW With droughts you need to consider rainfall, temperature AND evaporation rates.
"If we had just had the eighth-driest winter on record on its own and conditions had been okay before that, it wouldn’t have anywhere near the impact we are seeing," Dr Trewin said.
"Central and western Tasmania had above-average rainfall, and rainfall was average to slightly above average in parts of southern South Australia, south-west Victoria and also parts of south-west Western Australia," Dr Trewin said.
"Temperature is really a massive influence in terms of the evaporation," Dr Gergis said.
"We have actually seen maximum temperatures in NSW running about 2.2 degrees warmer than average, which is obviously exacerbating the rainfall deficits that we’re experiencing," Dr Gergis said.
This winter’s pan evaporation rate for Australia was the third-highest on record.
Dr Trewin said dry soils could in turn affect temperatures.
We are this land of drought and flooding rain, so we do experience drought conditions," Dr Gergis said.
But now our natural variability was playing out on the background of a warmer climate.
"As Australia continues to warm, it is going to cause an exacerbation of the drying, which is going to make our droughts worse," Dr Gergis said.

Some of NSW’s hardest-hit drought regions have missed out some much-needed wet weather after Sydney and coastal areas copped a burst of rain.
It comes after the state recorded its eighth-driest winter on record with rainfall 54 per cent below average, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Newcastle and the far north received a bulk of the rainfall between Sunday and Tuesday, with Ballina receiving nearly 80mm and Broadmeadow 70mm in 24 hours.
Despite persistent showers, Sydney only got 11mm on Monday.
Meteorologist Craig Ryan said other areas, including Armidale and Tamworth, recorded similar low totals.
"It’s certainly not in the far western areas, unfortunately," he told AAP on Tuesday.
"We have seen helpful totals in the 10-20 mm range for the northern tablelands, it’s not breaking any droughts but it’s certainly helpful."
Showers are expected to continue later in the week, mostly along the mid north coast and northern rivers.
Total rainfall across NSW was just 53.1mm for winter 2018, almost half the average.
Parts of the western districts received their lowest winter rainfall on record, while the state recorded its driest January to August period since 1965.

Some areas of the two regions haven’t received significant rainfall in several years.
Mr Lindenmayer said the decision to drought declare the Lockyer Valley earlier this year rather than wait had been proven to be the right choice, given present predictions.
Fellow drought committee member and Forest Hill farmer Tim Pocock said the extreme dry had been affecting the area for a number of years.
However, Mr Lindenmayer said while the assistance was helpful – the process to access it was putting people off applying.
And while the forecast isn’t positive for much of the country, the Lockyer Valley and Somerset may have a glimmer of hope.
"The three month outlook for August to October shows that it’s roughly equal odds for a wetter or drier season around Gatton and Esk and much of south-east Queensland – it’s different from much of the country which has got a much drier pattern for the next three months ahead," Mr Pollock explained.
However, he said the outlook was very negative for southern states where extremely dry conditions were forecast.
"Currently it’s neutral – we have a watch out because we’re concerned that it might develop into an El Nino later in the year," Mr Pollock said.
"Normally when we’re in El Nino we do see below average rainfall across Australia – including south-east Queensland."
It’s about an 80 per cent chance for the three months, August to October, that day times and night times will be warmer around Gatton.

However, the rainfall also washed fertiliser into the surface water.
They took samples of 39 different waterbodies in and around towns and cities, predominantly in the province of Noord-Brabant.
They took two samples from each location every time.
In the laboratory they enriched one of the water samples with fertilisers and left the other sample as was, and then set both aside at normal or higher temperatures.
"Whether the water was 20 degrees or 25 degrees didn’t really make a difference," says research director Miquel Lurling.
"But at both temperatures the addition of nutrients caused an explosion in the cyanobacteria already present."
Pond with buffering capacity The research also showed that in water that initially contained less fertiliser, there was no explosion of cyanobacteria.
There are various techniques to make surface water more resistant to algal blooms, such as the maintenance and immobilising of fertilisers."
Many species of cyanobacteria produce toxins that can cause health problems if you come into contact with them or swallow them.
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01851

The chance of a spring El Niño, along with other climate drivers, is likely to mean below-average rainfall for large parts of the country in the coming months.
A dry winter for most of Australia Winter rainfall has been below average over most of Australia’s eastern mainland.
Large parts of New South Wales are on track to have winter rainfall in the lowest 10% of records.
El Niño during spring typically means below-average rainfall across eastern and northern Australia.
A positive IOD during spring typically means below-average rainfall in central and southern Australia.
So, what’s the outlook for spring?
With a reasonable chance of both El Niño developing and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, the outlook for spring shows below-average rainfall is likely over much of the southeast and parts of the northeast and southwest.
No part of the country favours above-average rainfall in the spring outlook.
Read more: How to prepare your home for a bushfire – and when to leave The above average temperatures in 2018 so far, combined with below average rainfall and dry vegetation, mean a higher likelihood of fire activity in parts of southern Australia.
The warm and dry outlook for spring means the drought in parts of the country’s east is likely to continue.

Many families are subsisting on a single meal a day.
Many get by on just bread and water.
Herat has become the closest refuge for about 60,000 people, who have been displaced from their homes due to the drought.
We have spent all the money we had and have taken many loans from relatives.” Given such meagre resources, the unconditional cash grants from ECHO and NRC have become life lines for tens of thousands of the impoverished households.
We fled our homes because there was no water and it is the same here.
He lives in a makeshift shelter with his family after they were forced to leave their home in Badghis city/region/province.
But, despite the challenges, women like 57 year old Khanim Gul, who have been displaced several times, show remarkable resilience.
Gul was forced to leave her family behind in Badghis.
“This isn’t the first year we are suffering from drought.
While news of peace talks and bombings in Afghanistan make the headlines, the IDP communities suffering chronic, long term displacement feel “forgotten” by their government and the international community.

An ever-declining water table on the Southern High Plains, coupled with drought, has growers looking at alternative water management plans and crops.
“If I take acres out of production, I’ll be watering wheat in the fall through the spring, and I won’t be watering those acres through the summer,” says Struve, who grows cotton and corn.
“We’re not necessarily planting wheat because we can make money, but because it allows us to have something on those acres instead of nothing,” he explains.
But I don’t have much choice this time.
I’ve either got to get some wheat planted, hope for some winter rain, not put much into it ,and make a little bit of a living — or if not, I’ll just use the wheat for cover.” While Struve’s 2017 wheat crop was a mixed bag of disappointing test weights and low yields due to the drought, he says he’s planting a new variety this year, Avery — new to him, at least.
“If we catch some winter and/or spring rains and the wheat looks like it’s going to make something, we’ll fertilize accordingly.
But in some cases, the crop still had good test weights, says Grain Marketer Brent Wilhelm, Ag Producer Co-op, at Olton.
“Less quantity sometimes makes better quality,” he says.
It just seems the way Mother Nature works.” While the grain looked small, test weights averaged above 60 pounds per bushel, while the first few samples the co-op received had protein levels rated at 12 percent or more.
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