Nine out of ten people in Afghanistan do not have enough food to eat, the World Food Programme (WFP) has said.
The organisation says the situation has been made worse by the war in Ukraine and its impact on global food and energy supplies.
Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the WFP's Country Director for Afghanistan, said the scale of the crisis there is very evident and "numerous families" throughout the country are struggling to put food on the table each day.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Ms McGroarty said there are close to 19 million people in acute food insecurity and nearly six million at a crisis level of food insecurity.
"The scale of needs in Afghanistan are unprecedented in terms of hunger and food insecurity, and that's really driven by the economic crisis and the continuing climatic shock," she said.
"They just don't have the means to put one decent meal a day on the table. Over 90% of the population are just not getting enough to eat."
Ms McGroarty said they have had to scale back their optimism about the upcoming harvest season because the snow and rain has not been as good as they had hoped.
"The country is still gripped by the economic crisis and now you have the added impact of the war in Ukraine, which is impacting on food prices in Afghanistan," she said.
"For the ordinary Afghan, they've seen the price of wheat, flour and oil go up by over 20% since February. These are key staples.
"WFP's cost of operations have also gone up because we have to pay more for food. We're also having delays on our supply chain."
Ms McGroarty said the international community has been "incredibly generous" but the scale of the needs in Afghanistan are "at levels we have not seen before".
