TAJIKISTAN: LINKS BETWEEN FOOD INSECURITY AND POLITICAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSHANBE 000865 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN, AGRICULTURE FOR FAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PHUM EAGR ECON PGOV TI SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: LINKS BETWEEN FOOD INSECURITY AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY REF: A. A: DUSHANBE 774 ¶B. REF B: DUSHANBE 845 ¶C. REF C: O/I FROM DESK TO DUSHANBE, JULY 14, 2009 DUSHANBE 00000865 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Tajikistan faces serious ongoing food insecurity, and the situation may worsen as the year progresses. While the link between poverty and political instability is not simple, experts here agree that a decline in the availability of food in Tajikistan will contribute to political instability in the region. As families face more problems putting food on the table, they will find it more difficult to resist the easy profits of the drug trade. The trade in Afghan poppy is known to be the major source of income for Afghan terrorists. While there is no evidence yet to suggest that food insecurity is a factor behind recent anti-regime activity in Tajikistan itself, some are concerned that new food problems in traditional opposition areas may fuel conflict. End summary. -------------- Food Problems May Go from Bad to Worse -------------- ¶2. (U) Tajikistan faces ongoing problems with food security and rising prices (reftel). Some experts are concerned that the situation -- already precarious for many Tajiks, 53% of whom live under the poverty line, according to the World Bank -- may worsen before the year's end. This spring's heavy rains and related natural disasters may result in low fall harvests, making it more difficult for families to buy the food they need to last them through the coming winter. At the same time, as a result of the ongoing financial crisis, Tajik families are receiving lower remittances from relatives working abroad, primarily in Russia. Already money transfers are down over 35% compared to last year. Tajikistan is more dependent on remittances than any country in the world; the loss of this economic lifeline could be disastrous for individual families and the country as a whole. The loss of jobs in Russia presents a double-whammy: families are not only losing a crucial source of income, but they have to feed more mouths as newly unemployed workers return home. ¶3. (U) Prices are rising as well. Despite deflationary pressures, the consumer price index in Tajikistan has risen by 2.8% since the beginning of the year, including 2.1% on food. Food prices are almost 10% higher than at this time last year. The price increases have not been distributed evenly across all products. WHEAT flour and vegetable oil have decreased in price while potatoes and pulses have increased. The SINGLE biggest price rise has been in the Rasht Valley -- an opposition stronghold during the civil war that has seen a recent uptick in violence -- where potatoes are now 190% more costly than they were last month. -------------- Lack of Food May Fuel Drug Trade -------------- ¶4. (SBU) While the link between poverty and political instability is neither simple nor easy to measure, local experts here say that a decline in food availability in Tajikistan poses a threat to regional security. A primary pathway is through the drug trade, which is known to support terrorist activity in Afghanistan. Tajikistan is the main route for taking Afghan poppy north into Russia, and the country seizes more drugs than the other Central Asian states combined. With an average income of less than US $70 per month, a SINGLE drug shipment represents DUSHANBE 00000865 002.2 OF 003 an almost unimaginable profit for many Tajiks. The difficulty is exacerbated by the fact that Tajikistan's 1,344-km border with Afghanistan is rugged and difficult to patrol. Furthermore, although U.S. assistance is making progress in training border guards, conscripts continue to be underpaid -- earning as little as $3 a month -- and undernourished. Many of those on front line border posts spend most of their time scavenging for food, leaving relatively little time and energy to patrol the border. For those facing difficulty simply putting food on their plates, we frequently hear that involvement in the drug trade, even if it is turning a blind eye in exchange for a small consideration, can be difficult to resist. -------------- And May Fuel Local Violence as Well -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Although some Tajik migrant workers are remaining in Russia in the hopes of finding new work, others are returning home. Last winter we noticed that migrant men made their seasonal return without the gifts and savings they have brought in the past, leaving their families to face the most difficult season without this critical assistance. The worsening economic climate has frayed tempers: a few months ago we witnessed a shoving match break out at a food distribution between returning migrants and local authorities over how the food was distributed. ¶6. (SBU) Many of the areas hardest hit by the drop in remittances and rising prices were opposition strongholds during the civil war. For example, the former Food for Peace program worked in the Rasht Valley, where according to reports an armed group -- including fighters from Pakistan and Afghanistan -- is currently operating (ref B). Recent skirmishes in and around the town of Tavildara, south of Rasht, have begun making international news, causing some to speculate that Tajikistan may be entering a period of renewed instability. In mid-July, police officers manning checkpoints along the road through the Rasht valley came to the local office of USAID food assistance implementer Mercy Corps and asked to be given food in exchange for "guarding" their offices. Mercy Corps declined to take part in the nascent protection racket. (Comment: It is unlikely the police officers would have approached an International NGO with this request unless they were motivated by actual lack of food. It is noteworthy that this comes in mid-summer when food is much more available than in winter. Hungry law officers potentially could complicate an already tense situation in the area. End comment.) ¶7. (SBU) According to Michael Jones, the UN Resident Representative in Tajikistan, who has worked for twenty-five years on food aid, the link between food insecurity and political instability, while complicated and difficult to measure, is nevertheless taken for granted by most experts. Indeed, he said, he has worked in numerous countries where governments deliberately sought to quell anti-regime activity by delivering food assistance to targeted regions. He said that a carefully-crafted food distribution program might achieve the same results in Tajikistan. Such a program he said, should require buy-in from beneficiaries, whether cash payments or in-kind work contributions, and work toward self-sustainment by providing beneficiaries with skills and inputs for future income-generating activity. Tajikistan is lucky in some ways, he said, because the abundance of rivers provides a ready source of energy and irrigation water for agriculture. Agricultural development is important not only as a source of income, but to reverse the current trend in which Tajikistan produces less and less of its own food needs. DUSHANBE 00000865 003.2 OF 003 ¶8. (SBU) Comment: While no strong evidence has yet emerged to directly link food insecurity with the spate of anti-regime attacks in Tavildara and elsewhere, the government's failure to ensure that its citizens are adequately fed could fuel the violence, by adding another grievance to longstanding complaints about being excluded from power and giving anti-regime forces a rallying cry and message for recruitment. For this reason, observers here worry that the growing poverty in these regions may be a factor that heightens the conflict. Less tenuous is the relationship between poverty and involvement in the drug trade. While the key factors there are supply in Afghanistan and demand in Russia, the involvement of Tajik middlemen helps terrorism and instability in the region. End comment. JACOBSON