XI. FIELD SURVEY OF CROP IMPROVEMENT AND SEED NEEDS

XI.1. THE SURVEY

This survey was conducted to obtain primary information to enable a more practical assessment of variety choices and supply and use of crop seed by farmers, and how these could be improved to enhance farm productivity.

The survey was conducted by the Afghan Survey Unit (ASU) based in Peshawar. Given time, security and budgetary constraints, 390 households were randomly selected in 98 villages in three representative districts (total 18 districts) in each of six provinces, one in each of the six agricultural regions (Northeast, North, Central, Southwest, West and East). Food security was the primary focus; the survey covered the seven major food crops: irrigated wheat, rainfed wheat, barley, potato, maize, rice and chickpea.

These data are only indicative of crop improvement and seed needs in the survey areas. They are not representative of situations in the country as a whole. Any extrapolation of these results to other areas should be done with care. However, these results reflect actual situations, and are real-time data which could be a good basis in developing concepts for research/development projects and interventions.

XI.2. SURVEY METHODS

Questionnaire: (in Annexes to the full report) is divided into two parts to collect data on (i) household features and (ii) crop-specific issues of land, varieties, seed, other inputs, and farming practices depending on the crop for which a household was interviewed. The households were purposely selected for specific crops, since this survey is primarily concerned with seed issues of specific crops. The results will, therefore, differ from those in which all farming households are randomly sampled regardless of the crops they grow.

The questionnaire was designed to obtain detailed quantitative and qualitative information on (1) Farm household food insecurity and other constraints to productive agriculture; (2) The extent to which farmers use local/improved varieties, their understanding of varieties, and their need for good seed; (3) Farmer seed management practices (e.g., quality/purity issues, post-harvest processing, seed-saving, etc.) and (4) Farmer channels for seed acquisition/exchange and utilization.

Enumerator Training and Pre-testing: Training on seed system survey methods was organized for 3 enumerators and 3 field supervisors (3 teams), and 1 field coordinator, to ensure a thorough understanding of questions. The questionnaires were modified following discussions and exchange of ideas, and then were pre-tested in Afghan farming communities near Peshawar. The final questionnaires were translated into Farsi, alongside the English text.

Data Analysis: Data were checked and analysis carried out by the ASU team in collaboration with the ICARDA Seed Unit.

XI.3. KEY RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

This survey showed that the Afghan farming systems are resilient and, given appropriate support, can produce much of the country's food requirements. Of primary importance is improving access to irrigation water (the country's agriculture depends largely on irrigation), quality seed of good varieties and fertilizer. The households have ranked poor access to these inputs as the key constraints to food production.

There seems to be increasing scope for farmers to adopt new varieties, since up to 87% of households have heard about improved varieties. For all crops, a majority of households use mostly one improved variety and/or one local variety, although far more farmers use local than improved varieties. The objective of providing new varieties should be to increase choice available to farmers, and not just to replace existing varieties, since the local varieties may have superior attributes. Crop improvement efforts should be directed towards developing better rainfed wheat varieties, considering the large areas cultivated and the continuing drought and shortage of irrigation water. Wheat is used mainly for home consumption; the households use varying combinations of other crops such as potato, barley, maize and chickpea for sale in the local markets. Therefore, having productive varieties of these crops would support viable rural economies. While few households grew only one crop (which was largely wheat), a majority of households grew wheat and a second crop, depending on the agricultural region. Fewer households grew a third or fourth crop, and no household grew more than 4 of the main crops.

The focus in seed intervention should be on quality enhancement and not on quantity, since households already met a high proportion of their seed needs from sources within their communities, including own production and other farmers (e.g., 92.8% for irrigated wheat, 86.1% for rainfed wheat, 94% for barley, 90% for maize and 90.6% for rice). The total national seed requirement for the major food crops is estimated at 30,000 metric tones when the gap in actual seed needs is used as a basis for this calculation. Alternative seed systems should, therefore, be developed within farming communities to produce high quality seed and make it available to local farmers. Most farmers are well aware of the quality attributes they desire in crop varieties and seed.

Optimal use of other productive inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides is restricted by high prices; a high proportion of total household debt (42%) is used each year to finance inputs. Since most farmers have their own land plus sharecropped land, access to water seems to be more important than access to land itself. Households rank access to irrigation water as the most important constraint to crop production.

The perception and interpretation of constraints by households in this survey reflect their scale of operation, which is relatively small and in most cases subsistence in nature. Once the scale of operation or productivity levels increase, other aspects such as credit and marketing, which are now of low priority, will become more important.