UDNP helping Afghan farmers to increase quality
Abdul Hai, a 48-year-old farmer from Takhar’s Yangi Qala district, made US$6,500 from his pomegranates this year alone. He saw his crop value double in just one year after UDNP help.
“From one hectare of land, I harvested 5,600kg of pomegranates,” he says. “Last year, I only got about 3,000.”
This is welcome news after decades of difficulty. Most people in Yangi Qala are farmers, but productivity has always remained flat because of crop-eating pests and limited access to modern equipment and techniques.
“We have worked this land all our lives,” explains Abdul Hai, “But our knowledge has always been limited to what happens in our own province. We never learned how to control pests and increase our harvests. Even with my three sons working on our land, we never made enough money.”
UNDP has trained Abdul Hai and 29 of his neighbors on pest control, pruning and irrigation; we’ve held classes on how packaging can make products more attractive to customers; and we’ve built roads connecting the area to nearby markets. The efforts seem to be paying off as yields are increasing as farmers learn new skills and use more modern practices.
source: reliefweb.int
