NANGARHAR PROVINCE — MARKET MONITORING mVAM AFGHANISTAN - MARKET MONITORING BULLETIN #2 April 2017

KEY FINDINGS

 The Torkham border closure had considerable impact on the food availability and prices in the district markets of Nangarhar province, particularly for perishable foods such as fruits and vegetables. However, it had limited impact on the food availability and prices of staple foods such as wheat flour, rice and cooking oil, which was mainly because wholesalers in the markets had substantial stock of these staple food commodities, as well as a steady supply of these foods coming in from Tajikistan and Iran.  The main supply chain of food commodities to most districts of Nangarhar province is from Jalalabad City, the capital of Nangarhar province; thus the increase in prices and limited availability of perishable food (fruits and vegetables) in Jalalabad City impacted on these district markets of Nangarhar province.  Trader food supply chain access from Jalalabad City to the district markets of Kot, Muhmand Dara, Achin, Deh Bala and Dur Baba districts is limited, mainly due to insecurity. The local people in these districts are also facing security concerns when accessing the markets.  It is reported by the traders that the number of customers increased over the last 6 months in all the district markets except in Deh Balah market which has limited/no IDPs and returnees. The increase in number of customers in these districts is mainly due to the arrival of the returnees from Pakistan and increased numbers of IDPs in the district towns. However, there is no indication of any considerable negative impact of the IDPs and returnees on the markets.

The impact of the border ASSESSMENT BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY The impact of the closure on the markets in border closure on the red districts was great In September 2016, WFP conducted a face-to-face market survey in 6 district (Behsud, markets in orange compared to the other Khowgiani, Rodat, Jalalabad City, Bati kot and Surkh Rod) markets of Nangarhar districts was limited. districts,Kabul characterized by province in order to assess the suitability of using cash-based assistance for returnees The prices increased limited market access, and IDPs. The findings of this assessment helped WFP to prioritize cash or in-kind support in a normal range, increase in prices and Dara-e- Nur to the returnees based on the market functions. with only limited food decreased availability of shortages and access food reported. The Torkham border, which is the main supply route to the markets in the eastern region issues reported. Kuz Kunar of Afghanistan was closed in March 2017 and remained closed for 3 weeks. An mVAM Behsud Goshta market assessment was conducted by WFP from 19-23 March in order to assess the Kama Surkh Rod Jalalabad Torkham border closure and its impact on food prices, supply and availability in the Lal Pur district markets of Nangarhar province. Hesarak Chaparhar Bati Kot Khowgiani Rodat Muhmand The findings of this report are only based on a mobile survey (mVAM). The Shinwar Dara information in this assessment is collected from the traders in the all the districts of Sherzad Pachier Kot Nangarhar province except Dur Baba, Hesarak, Nazian and Pachier Agam districts, Deh Dur Baba Agam Bala manly due to lack of availability of trader phone numbers. A total of 93 interviews were Achin Nazian conducted with the traders in 18 districts of Nangarhar province. For each district, 5 interviews were conducted, except for Jalalabad (provincial centre) in which a total of 8 interviews were conducted. The districts in green have large scale markets, with food prices, stocks and access to the markets in good conditions. These markets Not assessed are well connected to the market of Jalalabad.

1 REPORT RELEASED 24 April 2017 NANGARHAR PROVINCE— mVAM MARKET MONITORING BULLETIN #2 — April 2017

Food Prices Figure 2: Average prices of food commodities in the district markets of Nangarhar province during the Torkham border closure. The impact of the border closure on the food prices in most of the district markets of Nangarhar province was limited, with only a few higher prices reported for specific District Name *Wheat flour **Rice Sugar Cooking Oil commodities in some district markets. Increases in the price of sugar was report in Achin (28 Achin 27 95 65 83 percent), in Goshta (10 percent) and in Kuz Kunar (14 percent) compared to the average Bati Kot 26 80 53 79 price in Jalalabad City before the border closure (February 2017). In addition there were Behsud 26 81 53 80 reported increases in the price of rice in Achin (26 percent) and Lal Pur (16 percent) Chaparhar 25 81 54 81 markets, as well as increases in cooking oil in Dur Baba (13 percent), Goshta (14 percent) Dara-e-Nur 26 77 52 82 and Muhmand Dara (11 percent) compared to the average price of Jalalabad City. Main reasons for these increases are due to border closure and limited supply, as well insecurity Deh Bala 26 80 55 81 for the traders to supply food commodities from Jalalabad main city markets. Dur Baba 27 78 51 87 Goshta 25 80 56 87 The price for wheat flour in all the assessed district markets remained stable, which was Jalalabad 25 78 56 80 mainly due to availability of the stock with the traders as well arrival of wheat flour from Kama 25 80 51 79 Kazakhstan. Khowgiani 25 77 54 79 Figure 1. Percentage changes in wheat flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil prices before Kot 25 78 54 82 and after Torkham border closure Kuz Kunar 25 75 58 80 Lal Pur 25 88 52 80 Muhmand Dara 25 79 52 85 Rodat 25 76 52 79 Sherzad 28 79 56 79 Shinwar 25 78 56 81 Surkh Rod 26 78 53 80 ***Jalalabad main city average price 26 75 51 77 ****Nangarhar average price 26 80 54 81

Note: All the is for high prices in the above table is in AFN/Kg-Lit * Wheat flour price high quality ** Rice price is collected for high quality *** The Jalalabad main city average price is for the month of February 2017 (before border closure). This price is collected through face-to-face assessment. **** The Nangarhar average price is based on average from all the assessed districts of Nangarhar province. This information is collected through mVAM during the Torkham border Note: In the above graph, the average of all the districts that are assessed through mVAM during the border closure. closure and average price of Jalalabad main city before the border closure (Feb 2017) is compared, which is collected though face-to-face assessment. REPORT RELEASED 24 April 2017 2 2 NANGARHAR PROVINCE— mVAM MARKET MONITORING BULLETIN #2 — April 2017

Access and Supply to Markets Terms of Trade (ToT)

Access is one of the main challenges for the traders to supply food commodities to the The terms of trade (ToT) between wheat flour and casual labour is a proxy indicator for markets of Kot, Muhmand Dara, Achin, Deh Bala and Dur Baba districts. These traders household purchasing power, which shows the quantity of wheat flour that can be pur- chased with the wage earned from one day of casual unskilled labour. pay higher transportation cost to supply food commodities from Jalalabad main market compared to the other districts, mostly due to insecurity. This results in increases in food The terms of trade was reported the highest in Chaparhar, Khowgiani and Kot prices and limits the transporters to supply the commodities to the insecure areas. In districts (13 kgs of wheat flour/day), followed by Achin and Shinwar districts addition, the residents in these districts also face security issues when traveling from the (12 kgs of wheat flour/day), Behsud, Goshta, Kama, Mohmand Dara and villages to the main markets of the districts. Surkh Rod (11 kgs of wheat flour/day), and Bati Kot, Dara-e-Nor, Dur Baba, The market in Jalalabad City serves as the major source market for the main markets in the Lal Pur and Rodat (10 kgs of wheat flour/day). The lowest ToT was reported assessed districts. The Jalalabad market itself is primarily supplied by Peshawar in in Deh Bala, Jalalabad, Kuz Kunar and Sherzad districts, which is mainly due Pakistan. There are also some direct supplies of food items from Peshawar (Torkham to the low rate of casual labour wage and higher price of wheat flour. The border) to Surkh Rod, Bati Kot and Behsud districts. As a result of the border closure, the availability of the casual labour work is very limited (1-2 day/week) in most supply of food commodities to the markets of Bati Kot, Chaparhar, Kot, Deh Bala and of the assessed districts, and households are rarely able to earn enough to Sherzad was slightly reduced while for the other districts, the supply remained stable. The meet their food needs. supply chain of food commodities is mainly affected by insecurity and conflict, and it seems to be not affected by seasonality. The highest number of returnees were reported in Behsud, Jalalabad, Surkh Rod, Bati Kot, Khowgiani, Kuz Kunar and Shinwar districts which also contributes to increase in demand, causing the traders to increase the supply based on demand.

Market Capacity

The markets of Behsud, Surkh Rod, Jalalabad, Kama, Bati Kot and Khowgiani appear to be the largest in Nangarhar province. While Achin, Deh Bala, Dur Baba, Sherzad, Kuz Kunar and Rodat districts have small scale markets, all the assessed markets have the ability to respond to the current demand. The traders interviewed in the large markets indicated that these markets have the capacity to respond to the demand if increase in the future. The highest stocks of staple foods (wheat flour, rice, cooking oil) is reported in Jalalabad City main market, followed by Behsud, Surkh Rod, Bati Kot and Khowgiani district markets. The sales of the staples in these districts are also reported to be the highest. Source: Mudasir-WFP / Retailer shop in Kabul main city For further information: [email protected] or [email protected] mVAM website: http://vam.wfp.org/mvam VAM website: vam.wfp.org

REPORT RELEASED 24 April 2017 3 3