ICARDA Caravan 18/19

Crop Diversity for Improved Nutrition, New Markets, and Higher Income in Afghanistan

Bread made from wheat is the major constituent of Afghan diet, but wheat prices are low—an unhappy by-product of successful relief efforts that discourages farmers from growing wheat. Crop diversity is the answer, not only for improved income, but also improved nutrition, especially for mothers and children.

Expanded production of fruits, nuts, vegetables, food legumes, forages and feedgrains is needed to support food, dairy, meat and hide production in Afghanistan. These so-called alternative crops and related crop/livestock systems have potential to create employment and market opportunities that the major commodities are unable to provide.

Vegetable seed production at six agricultural research stations rehabilitated by ICARDA includes carrots, onions, turnips, tomatoes, and okra. The grain and legume crops at these stations include barley, wheat, faba bean, chickpea, and mung bean.

Horticultural products once accounted for more than 40% of Afghanistan's exports. Horticultural nurseries have been established to plant hundreds of hectares of grape, fig, olive, pomegranate, almond, mulberry, apricot, peach, orange, lemon, and walnut. Fruits and nuts add important nutrients to Afghan diets and hold the potential for added-value products for sale in regional and global markets. These nurseries will be self-sustaining through the sale of seed and saplings to farmers.

Improved potato varieties and production practices, the result of work led by the Peru-based International Potato Center (CIP), also a member of the Future Harvest Consortium, are an important addition to the Afghan agricultural sector. Farmers improve their operations and income by either producing virus-free seed for sale to other farmers or by purchasing the improved seed and obtaining much higher yields. More than 750 Afghan farmers and agronomists have been trained in virus-free seed production.

Examining potato yields in Jalalabad.

Controlling aphids is an important component of potato production training. Aphids carry viruses from plant to plant enabling diseases like potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) and mosaic virus in becoming epidemic. Farmers received field training on the visual identification of major potato diseases and off-type plant identification and control. Research has shown that it is effective to grow potatoes as a spring crop in high mountain valleys where aphids are few and to use those potatoes as the fall planting material for the lowland farmers.

The seed testing laboratories being built by the Consortium are invaluable to the creation of a commercialized potato seed industry. Consortium members are working with farmers to develop a certification process that will be recognized by potato seed purchasers nationwide. This will enable the creation of new markets associated with the production and sale of guaranteed virus-free seed and build farmer confidence in its yield and health. As a high-yield cash crop for smallholding farmers, the CIP potato program represents a significant improvement in Afghanistan's agricultural future.

Crop diversification to replace poppy

Following the departure of the Taliban, poppy production in Afghanistan has rebounded to levels that reestablish the country as a leading producer of opium for the illegal drug trade. A recent report released by the United Nations Drugs Control Program indicates that opium production in Afghanistan is estimated at 3,400 metric tons. Poppies are estimated to earn approximately eight times more income per hectare than wheat, with less water and fewer inputs.

The cultivation of opium poppies is concentrated in the southwest, particularly in Helmand Province, although it is also fairly common in Nangahar and Badakhshan. Poppy has been a source of credit to offset the losses caused by drought and to support farming operations. The high value of the crop allows farmers, particularly returning refugees, to raise capital for buying livestock and other farming inputs.

Badakshan farmer extracts resin from poppies. Economic alternatives are being explored to replace poppy.

Fruits and nuts hold considerable potential for improving the nutrition and incomes of farm households, and could provide an alternative to poppy cultivation in the future. For example, Afghanistan is the country of origin for over 60 varieties of almonds. There may be considerable value in protecting and developing these unique almond varieties for international markets.

However, many of the Afghan horticultural operations no longer exist. Entire orchards have dried due to lack of water and trees have been felled for fuel. Nurseries are needed to develop saplings of native varieties. Training on advanced horticultural practices and techniques is necessary. All of this depends on better water management, and building efficient irrigation systems. Even after new trees become established, considerable investment is needed for storage facilities, transportation, and marketing.

Efforts continue to enhance the diversification of crop production as a means of dealing with the opium problem. ICARDA provided more than 3500 tonnes of improved, high-quality wheat seed to farmers in time for spring planting in 2002, and local growers were contracted to produce 5000 tonnes of seed for the fall planting. Still more seed of other crops, including native Afghan crop varieties lost during the drought, was repatriated from ICARDA's germplasm collection and is being evaluated by Afghan crop scientists for potential release to farmers.

While poppy remains a challenge to Afghan agriculture, rebuilding the agricultural infrastructure has the potential to provide economic alternatives for farmers.