Afganistan: Ghazni farmers make profits from potatoes instead of poppy

Afghan farmers in Ghazni are finding it pays to grow potatoes instead of poppies after they recently received 400,000 Afghan dollars from the Coalition Humanitarian Assistance Department.

The Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team met within the past month with the Minister of Agriculture Sultan Hussein to deliver the equivalent of about $8,240 U.S. dollars to farmers who chose to grow potatoes instead of the poppies.

The project was coordinated by the Ghazni Ministry of Agriculture who personally distributed the profits from the sale to representatives from each of the three farmers’ co-ops.

"The program is very successful," said Lt. Col. Robert Meier, Ghazni provincial reconstruction team commander. "We were able to take care of farmers and to distribute food to returnees coming from Pakistan and Pakistan earthquake victims."

The farmer cooperatives, or co-ops, participated in the Great Ghazni Potato Project. The program aims to deter Afghan farmers from poppy cultivation, and toward developing a more viable and legal source of agricultural commodity.

The co-op represents 21 local Ghazni Province farmers who had an over abundance of potatoes for their local markets and were paid the fair market value price for the 40,000 kilograms of potatoes. In the Coalition’s effort to assist Afghans in the transition from poppy to a more viable agricultural crop, CHAD purchased the potatoes to distribute humanitarian assistance food to returnees in the Asadabad, Jalalabad and Parwan districts.

It’s a "win-win" situation for both the farmers and the government of Afghanistan said Meier.

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