IN

III.AGRICULTURE

III.7. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

III.7.1. SEED/CROP RESEARCH

Before the war period began, there were 12 agricultural research stations, operating under the Ministry of Agriculture which had responsibility for this area.

Most of the crops of primary importance were included in tests and experimentation. For the cereals, and especially wheat, there were trials involving selection, performance testing, and cropping.

III.7.2. VARIETY DEVELOPMENT

A variety development and improvement was maintained within the Ministry of Agriculture, in the Afghanistan Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) prior to the initiation of hostilities. According to a scientist who was involved in the program, experimental work was conducted on a chain of 21 research stations located in various regions of the country. Multiple-location tests were conducted. On the government research farms and in trials, imported varieties, existing varieties, and landraces were compared under different conditions, many through the work of Dr. Nasrat Wassimi, now involved through ICARDA in the work of the Future Harvest Consortium.

Breeding programs on the major crops included screening of introduced varieties, local landraces, and breeding programs. Breeding work included selections and crossing activities. While he stated that to his knowledge no landrace had been released as a variety, landraces and their genetic materials were commonly-used in breeding programs involving both selection and crossing. The valuable landrace material was important for local breeding efforts, and as a source of germ plasm. ICARDA and other agencies have made collections of some materials.

III.7.3. RECENT VARIETY DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

At the collapse of the government of Dr. Najibullah in 1992, the government-supported crop improvement program collapsed. In 1996, FAO (funded by Sweden) re-initiated a crop improvement program, and the Ministry's screening program was turned over to this FAO-led program (reported by Tunwar). This program was still operating in 2001. Although it reported insufficient funding, its tasks were to:

Since 1996, 2,333 varieties of wheat were introduced for research, and compared with existing cultivated varieties. 15 wheat varieties were released for adaptation to specific areas, 10 for irrigated areas and 5 for rainfed areas.

Variety development in this program appears to have been largely comparative performance trials of existing varieties, and selection of better-performing materials.

III.7.4. CURRENT STATUS

Nothing of the former program remains. Stations have been looted severely. The Ministry of Agriculture is seeking funding and assistance for rehabilitating some stations. Staff did not receive salaries, and have generally been dispersed, many to other countries and/or as refugees. Some are with other agencies, working in Afghanistan, such as Dr. Nasrat Wassimi with ICARDA (who reported this status of facilities).

An effort is being made to initiate and re-establish the research program. The Ministry of Agriculture has established priorities (see some later paragraphs herein), and laid plans. Some programs, notably as reported by FAO and ICARDA, are putting out tests. These tests largely were of comparative performance of imported varieties.

III.7.5. VARIETY RELEASE

The variety release mechanism involved testing in multi-location trials. Best varieties were released/ recommended for cultivation under specific conditions.

Release was through a Variety Release Committee (Tunwar). Test results were submitted to this committee, which then, in consultation with the others concerned, released the needed and useful varieties.

Recently, trials conducted largely through FAO-led programs have continued releasing suitable higher-yielding varieties from results of their testing trials. Better-performing released and recommended were as shown in the following table.

Table 8 (PDF File 44Kb)
Number of Crop Varieties Released and Recommended, 1996-2001

All listed varieties were introduced from breeding programs in other countries (Tunwar). The following table (FAO annual report, Jan. 2002) lists the varieties introduced into Afghanistan in recent years.

Table 9 (PDF File 57Kb)
Varieties Introduced into Afghanistan From Abroad, 1989-2001

Table 10 (PDF File 70Kb)
Brief Description of Varieties Released in Afghanistan, 1994-2000

III.7.6. CONTINUANCE OR DROPPING OF VARIETIES

Old varieties apparently were just left to fade away or blend into "farmer stock" or landraces as varietally-pure "Foundation" or "stock" seed was not continued when emphasis shifted to other varieties. No organized system of dropping the recommendation of obsolete varieties was reported in and discussions.

III.7.7. WHEAT VARIETIES

The following irrigated wheat varieties were reported by Dennis et al. to be grown in Afghanistan near Seed Production Stations (from FAO, annual report, Jan. 2001).

Table 11 (PDF File 54Kb)
Improved Wheat Cultivars Grown in Irrigated Areas Near Seed Production Stations

III.7.8. ICARDA-DISTRIBUTED WHEAT VARIETIES

In time for planting in the spring of 2002, ICARDA distributed over 3,000 MT of seed of two wheat varieties, Inquilab-91 and MH-97. As FAO (Tunwar, in discussions) reported that these varieties are unknown, the following information on these varieties was obtained from A.R. Manan and N. Wassimi.

Parentage of Inqilab-91 is WL711/Crows, and that of MH-97 is CM85836-504-OY-OSY-OAP. A selection of this line has been released in other countries under the name "Attila". These two varieties are early-maturing and may suffer bird damage if planted too early in the fall. These varieties are suitable for spring planting in the higher elevations, and for autumn planting in lower elevations of Afghanistan.

Inqilab-91 and MH-97 have been tested in Afghanistan every year since 1997. Yield of these varieties under irrigation in diverse agro-ecological zones in Afghanistan ranged from 2.3 to 6.7 MT/ha, with mean yield of 4.4 MT/ha (Inqilab-91) to 4.9 MT/ha (MH-97). Under rainfed conditions during the recent unprecedented drought, MH-97 yielded 0.5 to 1.5 MT/ha in Baghlan Province in the 1999-2000 crop season.

Table 12 (PDF File 51Kb)
Mean yield (kg/ha) of Inqilab-91 in different years and locations trials in Afghanistan

Table 13 (PDF File 52Kb)
Mean yield (kg/ha) of MH-97 in different years and locations trials in Afghanistan