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Rebuilding Afghanistan's Agricultural Economy: Vegetable Production in Balkh Province
Abstract and Figures
The recovery of Afghanistan's agricultural economy has been delayed by a devastated infrastructure and diminished human capacity. The authors describe the challenges and opportunities to increase agricultural capacity, using vegetable production in Balkh province as a case study. The
most widely grown vegetable crops in the province are aubergine, melon, onion, tomato and watermelon, and most of them are marketed locally. There is great potential to expand vegetable production due to the arid climate, favourable soils and an industrious and abundant workforce. However,
production and market expansion cannot be realized unless better field production and management methods are implemented. Increased vegetable product quality and quantity depend on improved water and fertility management, use of vegetable cultivars best suited to the arid climate and environment,
development of cold storage facilities and improved pest control methods. Drought conditions, exacerbated by inefficient water use, constitute the most significant constraint to vegetable production in Balkh province and elsewhere in Afghanistan. In particular, plant diseases such as Phytophthora
blight, which are manifested during the growing season, often stem from excessive irrigation in the spring when water is available. Until a more broadly functional means of distributing water becomes available, on-farm practices that improve water management represent the best opportunity
to improve farmers' livelihoods.
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... Agricultural production is quite often insufficient to meet family requirements (Groninger et al. 2013). Therefore, the priority crops for meeting day-to-day needs and farm income are wheat, vegetables, and fruit (Walters et al. 2012). In rainfed areas, farmers depend mainly on common land resources to support fodder needs. ...
Technical Reports are one of ICARDA’s global public goods; they capture and share knowledge and learning from projects and research partnerships. Each report is internally reviewed as part of the center’s publishing process. The views expressed are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of ICARDA. Where trade names are used, it does
not necessarily imply endorsement of, or discriminaton against, any product by the Center. Maps are used to illustrate research results, not to show politcal or administratve boundaries. ICARDA encourages fair use, sharing and distributon of this informaton for non-commercial purposes with proper atributon and citaton.
... The main water source is the Balkhab River, which originates in the Hindu Kush mountains. The province has 18 canals, of which 11 are currently functional (Walters et al. 2012). The province is located on the Turkestan plain, which extends from the base of the Hindu Kush mountains in the south to the Amu Darya river in the north (Reeling et al. 2012). ...
Climate change is a significant global issue that will affect regional agriculture and water management of irrigation supplies. In this study, we project climate change impacts on water and irrigation requirements for major crops—wheat, cotton, and apricots—in Balkh province, Afghanistan. The methodology utilizes satellite imagery to overcome limitations in ground measurements necessary to understand current crop conditions and cultivation schedules for the study site. The climate model-averaged results project an increasing trend in both crop water and irrigation requirements for the study area, with larger trends for the climate model and scenario combinations that project the largest temperature increases. Future trends in the year-to-year variability of field water requirements do not contain a clear trend for most crops. The magnitude of projected changes vary significantly between individual climate models, demonstrating the importance of applying multiple climate models to project future conditions in agricultural water management. The results demonstrate the efficacy of using globally available data, including satellite imagery and global climate model information, to overcome lack of in situ observations. The findings also highlight challenges to current agricultural paradigms in areas such as Afghanistan that are arid to semi-arid and do not have adequate irrigation infrastructure.
... Even when cold storage is available, mixing and piling together all different products at different stages of maturity results in losses [82] that can be easily avoided if this knowledge is to be made available to farmers. Furthermore, many developing countries experience an erratic, inconsistent power supply which renders any existing cold storage facilities ineffective [86][87][88]. While grains and tubers do not require cold storage, traditional storage methods often result in high losses mostly on account of lack of knowledge on best practices [22] such as drying and packaging. ...
Reasons behind food loss can be very specific for each product and supply chain stage but
it is also affected by factors independent of the product and stage. This work focuses on such generic
factors and develops a framework to analyze food loss as a systemic outcome. The framework
highlights the interconnected nature of problem across supply chain stages and therefore
emphasizes the need to look at the whole system instead of specific stages, when proposing
solutions. Practices and underlying causes contributing to food loss are identified for each stage of
the supply chain using a literature search. Deductive logic is used to fill the gaps where literature
was found to be scarce, and to derive socio-economic indicators that signal the presence of identified
causes. Using this framework, we propose a non-exhaustive list of 30 socio-economic indicators,
which can signal the presence of the 22 practices and 60 causes associated with food loss in supply
chains. This list can serve as a starting list for practitioners and policymakers to build on when
analyzing food losses in supply chains in their region. We evaluate the framework using a fieldstudy
of a tomato supply chain in Nigeria, and conclude that it can be a useful tool to identify
practices, causes, and indicators of food loss.
... The genetic deterioration of vegetable crop landraces in developing countries, such as Morocco, is disturbing. This should have been expected because they are being quickly replaced in developing countries by newer hybrids, or even older pure-line inbred varieties, which have superior yields and product quality [4,15]. Moreover, the recent genetic deterioration of all vegetable crops has directly resulted from consumer demand for superior, high quality vegetable products in the marketplace, even in remote locations of the world [4]. ...
... The genetic deterioration of vegetable crop landraces in developing countries, such as Morocco, is disturbing. This should have been expected because they are being quickly replaced in developing countries by newer hybrids, or even older pure-line inbred varieties, which have superior yields and product quality [4,15]. Moreover, the recent genetic deterioration of all vegetable crops has directly resulted from consumer demand for superior, high quality vegetable products in the marketplace, even in remote locations of the world [4]. ...
Crop domestication and breeding efforts during the last half-century in developed countries has significantly reduced the genetic diversity in all major vegetable crops grown throughout the world. This includes developing countries such as Morocco, in which more than 90% of all farms are less than 10 ha in size, which are generally maintained by subsistence farmers who try to maximize crop and animal productivity on a limited land area. Near Agadir, in the remote Anti-Atlas mountain areas of the Souss-Massa region, many small landowner vegetable growers are known to still utilize crop populations (landraces). Thus, an assessment of the current status of vegetable landraces was made in this mountainous region of Southwestern Morocco during 2014. This assessment indicated that a significant loss of vegetable crop landraces has occurred in the last 30 years in this region of Morocco. Although many vegetable crops are still maintained as landrace populations by small subsistence farmers in remote areas in the Souss-Massa region, only 31% of these farmers cultivated landraces and saved seed in the villages assessed, with the average farmer age cultivating landraces being 52 years old. Moreover, the approximated loss of vegetable crop landraces over the last 30 years was an astounding 80 to 90%. Vegetable crops notably lost during this time period included carrot (Daucus carota), fava beans (Vicia faba), melon (Cucumis melo), pea (Pisum sativum), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), and tomato (Solanum lycopersicon). The most significant loss was tomato as no landraces of this crop were found in this region. The vegetable crop landraces that are still widely grown included carrot, melon, onion (Allium cepa), turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa), and watermelon, while limited amounts of eggplant (Solanum melongea), fava bean, pea, pepper (Capsicum annuum), and pumpkin (Cucurbita moshata and C. maxima) were found. This recent genetic deterioration will have a profound influence on future Moroccan agricultural productivity, as the genetic diversity within these landraces may be the only resource available to allow these smaller subsistence farmers to cope with changing environmental conditions for the optimization of crop production in their harsh climate.
... Farmers in this province face highly fluctuating water supplies with no significant reservoir storage capacity, which places heavy stress on food production in dry years, especially in the low part of the watershed. Reliable water availability is a major determinant of the recovery and expansion of irrigated agriculture activities in Balkh Basin to its former high levels of the mid 1970s (Kugbei et al., 2005;Walters et al., 2012). In the Basin, weak water institutional capacity (e.g., rules for defining water rights) limits farmers' ability to adapt to highly fluctuating flows supplied from runoff in the Balkh River and its tributaries. ...
Vegetation, precipitation, and surface temperature are three important elements of the environment. By increasing the concerns about climate change and global warming, monitoring vegetation dynamics are considered to be crucial. In this study, the cross-relationship between vegetation, surface temperature, and precipitation, and their fluctuations over the past 21 years are evaluated. Day time LST from Terra sensor of MODIS, nir and red bands of Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI, and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) are used in this research. Data were evaluated and processed using the google earth engine cloud processing platform. According to the results, it was concluded that the correlations between the annual average of normalized difference vegetation index and precipitation are not significant. Evaluation of the cross-seasonal correlations exhibited the availability of the strong and significant correlation with a value of r2 = 0.82 between vegetation thickness and precipitation, during the spring and summer, especially from April to August. Moreover, surface temperature exposed an inverse correlation with precipitation and NDVI with the values of r2= 0.776 and r2= 0.68 respectively, these relationships are highly significant. According to the results of this study, vegetation declined sharply in particular years, and this decrease occurred due to insufficient rainfalls.
The study was carried out in one of the districts of Nangarhar province located in Eastern Afghanistan between latitude 34.25 o N and longitude 70.50 o E. Nangarhar has huge ground and surface water resources. There are 78 irrigation canals in the province having an overall length of 365 km. Behsud Canal is located in Behsud district of Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The results showed that highest crop water requirements were found for the month of July in Behsud Canal. Similarly, water application efficiency ranged recorded from 34% to 65.2%. Average evapotranspiration was found to be 49% in present canal. The irrigation water demand increased with the increased size of the agriculture field for the production of crops in Behsud Canal of Nangarhar province.
Purpose
In order to improve the current level of agricultural informatization and the large deviation of economic growth. Combining the cost input of the green ecological environment and the level of economic growth, the relationship model between the level of agricultural informatization and economic growth is established in the green ecological environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors establish an evaluation index system for the level of agricultural informatization and calculate the total index of agricultural informatization under the index system. Combining the cost input of the green ecological environment and the level of economic growth, the authors establish the relationship model between the level of agricultural informatization and economic growth in the green ecological environment.
Findings
The research results show that the regression coefficient of determination including agricultural informatization elements from 2014 to 2018 is 5.105466, indicating that the model fits well. The sum of the variables is greater than 1, indicating that the mutual influence of agricultural informatization factors is also obvious. The condition of the hypothesis test in this study is significant (5%), which shows the positive relationship between the elastic coefficient of agricultural informatization and the elements of informatization. The results show that the continuous advancement of the informatization process can effectively promote agricultural economic growth.
Originality/value
The condition of the hypothesis test in this study is significant (5%), which shows the positive relationship between the elastic coefficient of agricultural informatization and the elements of informatization. The continuous advancement of the informatization process can effectively promote agricultural economic growth.
Since food security relies on sustainable water supply, this study developed an irrigation water governance framework in order to achieve an effective water irrigation supply. It was conducted in Pila and Sta. Cruz, Laguna with 176 members of the 26 Irrigation Associations. Spearman Rho correlation was used to analyzed the
relationship between water governance variables and availability of water. Hindering factors include insufficient water supply during the dry season, deforestation and quarrying, and the limited funds for rehabilitation of the irrigation canals. Majority of the respondents positively declared that their rice production is enough for their
household consumption. However, they occasionally experience rice shortage due to strong typhoon and dam was damage by strong typhoon but there is still food security at the household level since rice is available in the market. There is a positive strong linear association between management of water resources and regulation of irrigation
water and availability of water. Regulation of irrigation water and the availability of irrigation water were found to have a strong linear relationship. The IA is at the core of the water governance model since ownership of the irrigation system was already transferred by the NIA to the IA. With these, the study recommended that the political, social, and economic aspects, and administrative systems should be taken
into consideration. However, various institutions play a vital role for the IA to address the different factors. Through this, good water governance can be achieved resulting to water security thereby achieving rice security.
Key words: water governance model, food security
Afghanistan's agricultural sector is extremely important. It provides livelihoods for almost 80% of the population; however, due to 25 years of conflict, Afghanistan's agricultural sector has been left in ruins. After the fall of the Taliban regime, the world has taken a more proactive approach in rebuilding the country. The Afghan government and NGOs have started to create programs that enhance agricultural production throughout the country. This paper is a synthesis of the literature spanning 2000-2008 pertaining to what has been done thus far in the country and what entities were responsible for those outcomes. This study describes the role of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Land's Division of Extension and how that division has addressed problems in the agricultural sector. The literature suggests that NGOs play a vital role in Extension program implementation, while the Ministry of Agriculture serves primarily as a regulatory body.
Afghanistan contains diverse natural forests and has a long history of forest utilization, irrigation silviculture, and treeplanting for amenities. Presently, the forest resources and supporting institutions are severely degraded after decades of war. Since the fall of the Taliban, rehabilitation of irrigation systems, nursery development, and treeplanting have been undertaken in support of the government's desire to recreate an agriculture- and natural resources-based economy. Students at five Afghan universities are working toward Bachelor of Science degrees in forestry. Although recovery efforts are still in their early stages and many serious challenges remain, the revitalization of Afghan forestry appears to be taking shape.
Wars, drought and social collapse have greatly impaired land management and agriculture production systems in the southeastern Afghanistan provinces of Khost, Paktika and Paktya. This region has long existed with limited central government influence and remains particularly unstable. A complex physical and social geography, on-going warfare, severely limited mobility and policies poorly adapted to regional realities hamper development and reconstruction. On-farm water efficiency improvement, watershed-scale work restricted to small, socially homogeneous watersheds and word-of-mouth Afghan-to-Afghan technology dissemination are particularly important development strategies in this environment.
Crop and livestock production in Afghanistan is constrained by weak infrastructure, poor information, and inadequate institutional capacity to manage water to sustain food security and support farm income. Afghan decision-makers currently lack the information and its application to evaluate the economic performance of alternative irrigation institutions. This analysis develops and applies a framework that informs water decision-makers on profitable and food-secure uses of land and water resources in the Balkh River Basin of Afghanistan. Several arrangements for allocating water among a system of irrigation canals are analysed for their impacts on land and water use, farm profitability, and food security at both the canal and basin levels. Findings show that total water supply and institutional arrangements for allocating water shortages have important influences on farm income and food security. The methods used and results found provide a framework for informing decisions on the sustainable use of land and water for improved food security and rural livelihoods in the world's irrigated developing areas.
Afghanistan is relatively rich in water resources and land. However the last 3 decades of war and a series of droughts have caused many problems. These include a shortage of efficient institutions, organizational capabilities of staff and effective rules and regulations in regards to water use. Furthermore, a centralized structure of water management and overlapping mandates between institutions has led to poor coordination within the water sector and a general lack of information and data for planning. In addition, low public awareness among stakeholders' and damage of local traditional institution.
The above factors have brought about negative impacts on water resources of the country. For example, in 1980 Afghanistan had a 3.3 million hectares irrigated land which has since been reduced to 1.8 million hectares - this has clearly affected the economy and environment of rural areas. As per the new Water Sector Policy, the Supreme Council for Water Affairs Management has been established. This is chaired by first vice president and its members are from line ministries. This, it is hoped, will improve willimproveiiii coordination between key stakeholders. Moreover, previous Water Law has been revised. River Basin Agencies/ Councils, Sub-basin Councils and Water User Associations will be formed in the five river basins as management institutions.
The new Water Law focuses on stakeholders' participation in water management, equitable water allocation, and division of tasks at national, basin and sub-basin level including participation of all stakeholders in decision making. Based on new Water Sector Policy and Water Resources Sub- Sector, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is carried out through the river basin approach; the objective of IWRM is to decentralize the activities gradually to river basins and sub basins and considerable use of water resources (Mahmoodi, 2006). Therefore, to achieve an integrated water resources management the following common policy principles are:
• Integrated water resources development and management should be undertaken in a holistic and sustainable manner;
• Management and development of water resources should be participatory methods by stakeholders;
• Planning and development of water resources should be decentralized according to natural river basin boundaries.
• Water sector development activities should be participatory and consultative at each level by all stakeholders.
Thus, the goal of the Strategy is management and development of water resources, improved livelihood of present and future generation through:
• access to safe drinking water supply;
• Food security through water security;
• Protection of people income sources from negative impacts of droughts and floods;
• Access to hydro power in both rural and urban areas;
• Water supply for improvement and development of industries (MEW, 2004a).
In order to achieve these strategic goals, the following programs have been developed and are ongoing:
1 Institution development program and capacity building.
2 River Basin Management national program for poverty alleviation.
3 Rehabilitation of irrigation schemes program for modernizing of irrigation systems and prevention of water loss.
4 National Program for water resources development for identification of water resources, formation and application of water supply infrastructure.
5 Rural water supply and sanitation system for supply of safe drinking water of rural areas.
6 River bank protection program to control floods.
Implementing the above programs, we can achieve our goals which are poverty alleviation and unemployment reduction, socio-economical growth and public welfare; they will result in improved rural development and sustainable environmental protection (ANDS, 2007).
The majority of smallholders growing vegetables in East Africa market their produce domestically. It is an important source of income for many poor smallholder households and those involved in vegetable value chains. This paper highlights the major constraints of and identifies potential opportunities for improving the efficiency of domestic vegetable marketing systems in two countries - Kenya and Tanzania. Emphasis is given to tomato and onion as commonly marketed and consumed vegetables throughout the region. The authors also look at indigenous vegetables marketed domestically. Finally, they consider the importance of the export vegetable subsector as a role model for improving the efficiency, growth and economic value of domestic vegetable marketing systems in East Africa. This analysis should guide policy makers towards key interventions to facilitate the development of efficient vegetable marketing systems, contributing to poverty reduction and fostering economic growth in East Africa.
This paper analyses the factors determining the demand for and supply of agricultural credit (loans) among small-scale farmers in south-western Nigeria. Empirical data were obtained from 270 farmers who used credit. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and statistical models. Analysis revealed that farmers who used credit were younger (average: 47 years old), and that cultivated farm sizes (average: 3.8 ha) were larger than the national average. The statistical models showed that the interest rate, farm expenditure, the amount borrowed from alternative sources, farm size and savings were the main determinants of credit demand, while interest rates charged, the level of savings of respondents, the amount of loan demanded and the proportion of previous loans repaid were the major determinants of credit supply. In order to improve the agricultural sector, formal lending institutions should target younger farmers, including women, use group and social assets as collateral rather than physical assets, charge commercial interest rates, mobilize savings through their rural outposts and give medium-term rather than short-term loans.
Agriculture is central to the food security and economic growth of developing countries, providing the main source of livelihood for three out of four of the world's poor. Yet it is the poorest farmers who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This paper briefly reviews the potential impact of climate change on food crops in the context of the wider debate on future food and water security in the developing world. The authors ask whether we should wait or act now to tackle the anticipated future problems.
Rice is a major staple food in Afghanistan, and its production contributes to the food security for millions of Afghans. However,
over the past four decades, increases in rice cultivation in the Amu Darya River Basin in the northeastern part of the country
are contributing to head/tail inequities in irrigation water-sharing, both at river basin and at canal levels. Since 2007,
the Participatory Management for Irrigation System project has been experimenting with the System of Rice Intensification
(SRI) as an alternative to the highly water-consumptive traditional method of rice cultivation by inundation of fields. The
aim is to introduce a water-saving method for upstream rice-growing farmers to improve the water access for downstream users.
To the extent that such a method improves yield, this gives upstream farmers an incentive to switch to this new method which
benefits them and, indirectly, other farmers downstream. In 2009, 42 farmers who are cooperating with the Aga Khan Foundation
practiced SRI, facilitated through the project’s participatory technology development (PTD) approach. Their average SRI yield,
9.3tonsha−1, was considerably higher than that obtained with their traditional rice-growing practices. Those farmers who had 2years
of experience with SRI methods and who greater mastery of the techniques got, on average, 65% higher yield than first-year
SRI farmers. More-experienced farmers improved their rice production by 27% in comparison to their previous results in 2008.
The PTD approach engages the experienced farmers as resource persons to assist new volunteers, promoting local transfer of
knowledge. The primary factor in yield improvement was an increase in the number of grains per panicle (+47%). A 10% increase
in the number of tillers per square meter, despite lowered plant population, was the second major factor. Yields appeared
to be very responsive to an increased number of mechanical weedings. Challenges still remain to be dealt with on the way toward
up-scaling, especially as the security situation remains problematic. However, the PTD approach is facilitating work in the
field as is cooperation with government personnel.
KeywordsAfghanistan–Rice yield–System of rice intensification–Water saving–Water scarcity–Weed control