Needs Assessment Reports
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Once emergency seed distributions were underway, it was necessary to conduct needs assessments to guide planning and future projects. The Future Harvest Consortium determined that assessments were needed in four main focus areas: soil and water management; livestock, feed and rangelands; seed systems and crop improvement; and horticulture. Impassable roads and checkpoints were just a few of the barriers to conducting needs assessments in Afghanistan. Commanders retain varying degrees of control over their regions. Poppy production is still commonplace and efforts to deprive these areas |
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 Afghan farmers participating in the livestock and rangelands needs assessment |
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their primary source of income have not been well received. Remote
villages remain suspicious of strangers and questions. Young men with
guns guard checkpoints that are chaotic and threatening. Armed only with penetrating questionnaires, survey teams and Consortium scientists covered every province in Afghanistan. They passed the impassable and achieved the nearly impossible to get the information needed to guide rehabilitation efforts. Thousands of farmers answered questions about agriculture, providing a clearer picture of their situation. Tea also appears to have played a pivotal role. When asked if
Afghan farmers were reticent or suspicious about the questions,
Joachim Mueller, a scientist from one of the Even more difficult than crossing checkpoints and cratered roads, the survey teams listened to stories of deprivation and heartbreak. Every family seems to have lost members to the war. The drought brought agriculture to a state of collapse. In the Pashtoon Zerghoon district of Herat, Ibrahim of Dar Gharas told survey team member Raz Muhammad Fidai, that he had cultivated 400 kg wheat, 200 kg of barley and 100kg of chickpea. After paying for cultivation, the entire crop failed. Other villagers reported that the lack of food and nutrition caused entire communities to be nearly childless. The hard-won
information gathered by the needs assessments was considered by
The soil and water needs assessment pointed out some potential for expanding irrigated land for crops. Afghan farmers need more information on effective management of water resources, as well as the effective use of fertilizer, which dropped off precipitously in the 1980's, during the conflict. The greatest constraints listed by the soil and water assessment were the lack of credit for farmers, nutrient deficiency, seeds and water. The farmers have also expressed great concern about plagues of locusts in the upcoming growing season. The crop improvement and seed survey stated that under normal conditions, Afghan households were able to produce about 86% of their own food needs. Due to the drought, the survey indicated a significant shortfall in meeting household food requirements, with farmers expecting to meet only 59% of their total needs. Debt insecurity averaged to about $800 US per household, with very little capacity for repayment. Increased crop productivity and access at the household level would considerably reduce rural poverty and hunger on a lasting basis. The horticulture and marketing overviews pointed out that in the past, horticulture provided 30-50% of Afghanistan's export earnings and presents the best potential for replacing poppy production. However, global competition has developed for traditional Afghan horticultural crops and global preferences are highly developed, making many of the Afghan cultivars and practices unacceptable. The lack of roads, transportation and storage facilities requires considerable investment. Efforts to restock the germbank of Afghanistan and evaluate local varieties for development were already underway. All four needs assessment final reports can be found at www.icarda.org and clicking on "Rehabilitating Afghanistan." |
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