“I am a farmer. My father was a farmer. And my grandfather was a farmer,” says Mohammad, 60 years old, from rural Herat province, as he grips and cuts the tall stalks of wheat.

Under the scorching summer sun, he bends slightly at the waist. He gathers a fistful of golden stalks with one hand and slices them close to the parched earth with the wooden-handled, iron-edged sickle in the other. With the precision of a clock’s second hand, the sound of the blade tearing through the dry stems spreads across the field.

Farming has sustained Mohammad’s family for more than 200 years. He inherited 22 jeribs, or 4.4 hectares, from his father. It is a medium-sized farm, but one that has fed generations.

Every year, he plants wheat, as it is the most affordable crop, easy to store, and able to grow in areas where rainfall is limited. Naan, the soft, flat bread baked in clay ovens that forms the heart of every Afghan meal, has kept his family from hunger for decades.

“The whole process, from sowing to harvest, takes about seven months. It begins in December, when we prepare the land and plant the wheat,” Mohammad explains. By February, the crop begins to sprout, and he applies fertilisers. Two months later, he focuses on weed control and field maintenance. “We irrigate and add more fertiliser as needed. After seven months, around June or July, we harvest the wheat, using machines to separate and clean the grain.”

But this year, seven months of labour yielded almost nothing. The drought devastated 92 per cent of his planted seeds. From 600 kilograms sown, only 50 kilograms survived.

Looking across the faded yellow fields, large patches of earth are cracked and parched, splitting into jagged fissures. Dust rises with every gust of wind, and the few visible shrubs are brown, brittle, and twisted.

The drought is visible in every patch of soil, in half-empty villages, in children scavenging for scraps of metal or searching for work, and in health centres crowded with malnourished mothers and children.

“Farmers have done everything they could this season. They ploughed their fields, bought seeds, used fertiliser, yet the land gave them almost nothing back. Wheat, which is the heart of Afghan farming, has been devastated by the drought. Families who used to fill their tables with their own harvests are now left with empty hands. Many are forced to search for daily labour just to survive, but those jobs are scarce, and for many, simply out of reach,” shares Abdul Hasib Pooya, World Vision Afghanistan Food Security & Livelihood sector lead.

This year’s severe drought is affecting 19 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, especially in the north and west. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Badghis, Balkh, Faryab, Jawzjan and Samangan are the hardest hit.

“Last month, I had to borrow money from other families just to buy a little food. I can’t remember the last time we had a full meal,” says Gul, a widowed mother of five from Qadis district, Badghis province, who relies on aid to feed her children. Most families like hers fall into debt simply to survive.

“We keep the harvest only for ourselves,” Mohammad says, running his hands over the drying stalks of wheat. “It’s not enough to sell. We use it to make flour, to make bread.” This year, the family managed 800 kilograms, enough to feed them for barely three or four months.

Their monthly income is about 4,000 Afghanis, roughly US $58. Just enough to scrape by until next month, with little left for nutritious food.

His twelve daughters and wife spend long hours weaving carpets whenever a small distributor provides materials, their work serving as another source of income to support the family. His son, Gul Haida, assists with the fields, though moving around is harder for him because of a disability in his left leg. For Mohammad, managing the farmland alone has become an exercise in endurance and careful planning.

Beyond wheat, pistachio trees rise along the hillsides. A small plot yields vegetables and seasonal fruits: potatoes, okra, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, watermelon. Of the 22 jeribs he cultivates, only nine percent are irrigated. The rest rely on rain.

“For my two jeribs, water comes from a river a kilometer away,” Mohammad explains. He digs narrow channels to guide it down into the valley and onto his crops. It takes three hours to water those two jeribs, and he can do it only once every five days.

Farmers take turns. “The whole village depends on one water source. Each farmer gets about three days of water per month.” But even this lifeline is fragile, as water levels are dropping increasingly due to climate change.

“Even in areas with irrigated land, cultivation has been hampered by dried springs, depleted karizes – traditional underground irrigation channels common in Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia – reduced surface water, and a falling water table,” explains Pooya.

World Vision provides farmers with drought-resistant certified wheat seeds, fertilisers, and hands-on training in good agricultural practices. Beyond planting and harvesting, farmers are also taking part in climate change awareness sessions, focusing on drought and flood preparedness – nearly 3,000 farmers have been trained so far.

Through Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) committees, entire communities are being equipped with knowledge to anticipate and respond to crises, from floods to natural disasters, minimising potential losses.

For each farmer, World Vision, funded by the Dutch Relief Alliance, provides 50 kilograms of certified wheat seeds, enough to sow two jeribs, alongside 100 kilograms of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), which improves soil fertility and boosts early crop growth, and 50 kilograms of urea, a nitrogen-rich fertiliser that strengthens plants and increases yield. This year, 800 farmers are slated to receive this support.

“If not for the certified seeds, I would have had no harvest at all,” says Mohammad. “I couldn’t afford them. In this season of drought, it is impossible to cultivate and get any yield without certified seeds. We have the land. What we need are good seeds to make sure that when we plant, we can harvest. But we cannot afford them.”

World Vision is also rehabilitating irrigation canals and building small-scale irrigation structures, bridges, and flood protection walls – all through cash-for-work programmes engaging over 600 participants. These efforts have improved water flow in the canals, ensuring that nearly every drop is used efficiently, with minimal seepage.

“Looking ahead, we plan to distribute drought-resistant wheat seeds to over 1,800 farming households in 2025, aiming to strengthen resilience and sustain food production in one of the country’s most climate-vulnerable regions,” shares Pooya.

The drought is tightening its grip just as the country faces one of its worst malnutrition crises in years.

Across Afghanistan, 9.5 million people are severely food insecure, while nearly five million women and children suffer from malnutrition. The 2024 IPC Acute Malnutrition analysis shows clear deterioration in at least ten provinces compared to 2022, underscoring a crisis that is spreading fast and cutting deep.

“I’ve already lost two children to malnutrition. I don’t want to lose a third,” says Jamila*, from rural Herat, clutching her four-year-old son, Habiburahman. 

With crops failing and livestock dying, millions of families are sinking further into debt just to buy food. Others are forced to pull their children out of school to work, sell small assets, or migrate in search of income.

“Around 200 families live here, about 800 people in total. Nearly 95 households depend on farming. From almost every family, at least one or two members go to Iran for work. Because of the drought, most farmers cannot sustain their families anymore,” says Qaibullah, community leader from Mohammad’s village in Herat province.

But even migration, once a fragile lifeline, is closing off. For years, Afghans crossed into Iran and Pakistan to find daily labour and send money home. Now, stricter migration policies in both countries are pushing undocumented Afghans to leave or face deportation. Since September 2023, more than 2.4 million people have returned from Iran and Pakistan, including over 1.2 million from Iran in 2025 alone, according to UN data.

Layered crises are overwhelming a country already ravaged by malnutrition, as funding dries up. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) was scaled back from an initial request of $2.42 billion to $1.62 billion, reflecting a 33% reduction due to a funding shortfall.

As the sun paints the sky in warm shades of orange, Mohammad finishes his day in the field. The eroded soil, cracked into hundreds of fissures, radiates intense heat. The wind stirs the dust from the hills in a wild dance, and the wrinkles on the farmer’s face gather the grit of the land. His skin is beaten by the sun. Yet he knows that for the next four months, his family will have bread on the table. That is the value of 50 kilograms of certified seeds.