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MEDIAWATCH: Threat of food shortages as Tajikistan faces the worst winter in decades

The Central Asian country of Tajikistan, the poorest in the region, is in the grips of an energy shortage that threatens to cause a severe humanitarian crisis. With all of Central Asia experiencing one of the coldest winters in decades, Tajikistan's energy resources are particularly strained because of the country's dependence on hydroelectric power, according to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

Frozen rivers mean turning to neighbouring countries for energy supplies, but these imports have now been reduced as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan face their own increased demand. While the main Tajik hydropower stations don't have enough water to run their turbines, frozen pipes have left much of the population without drinking water, the BBC reports.

Power supplies have been severely rationed and people in the villages are receiving only one or two hours of electricity per day, Radio Free Europe reports, while the BBC says it's possible electricity could cut out altogether. Authorities in the capital city of Dushanbe say they're concerned about water-borne epidemics if a minimum power supply operating the city's water system cannot be maintained. People in some neighbourhoods are using ditches as toilets as their water supply isn't working, Action by Churches Together says.

Heavy snowfall has blocked roads and left tens of thousands of people stranded in mountain villages. Radio Free Europe reports that at least 80 people have been stranded on a mountainous road for nearly three weeks after an avalanche wiped out a section of highway linking the capital to the country's north.

About two-thirds of Tajikistan's people live below the poverty line. Price rises means that what used to be the entire budget for a family's survival is now barely enough to buy fuel this season. Now that they have to spend more on fuel or wood, there's not much money left over to eat on, and the United Nations warns that food shortages are becoming severe.

The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that half a million local people are now unable to afford even minimum food purchases and the severe weather has destroyed the potato harvest. As a WFP official says to the Ferghana Information Agency: "Cattle is butchered because the population needs to eat. What will happen to these people tomorrow? Cattle is often their primary source of income and nourishment."

Tajikistan appealed to the international community for aid in early February and the U.N. has now issued an appeal for $25m in aid for the country. The U.N. children's agency and the World Health Organisation have already responded with blankets, petrol and food, but it may not be enough to solve the food shortage.

A post by blogger Vadim on Neweurasia's Tajikistan blog asks why should the international community care about the crisis in Tajikistan? Help from other countries could be a temporary cure, but the blogger blames the emergency on the Tajik government. He says authorities are willing to accept humanitarian aid in this time of crisis, but when the same international community pushes for the promotion of democracy, it's dismissed as interference in internal affairs. The BBC cites a Tajik journalist saying that the government is in denial about the crisis. With the population's finances already strained, Radio Free Europe reports that Tajik officials still went ahead with an electricity price hike of 20 percent in order to repay debts to the World Bank.

Looking ahead, the heavy snowfall that today blankets Tajikistan could lead to spring flooding, creating new problems once the country manages to make it through the winter. There are also concerns that the spring crop of fruit and vegetables, one of the country's few exports, may have been destroyed by the severe weather.