In addition to the devastating consequences of the political change and a very fragile economy, the Afghan people have been suffering from consecutive droughts and other dire consequences of climate change.
A foreboding climate and fragile economy
Ghazni is one of the provinces in which the most households derive their income from agriculture. Agriculture is not only essential to put food on the table, but also to ensure an income from sale on the local markets. With the droughts and the overall effects of climate change on the arable land in Afghanistan, the traditional seeds and fertilizer is no longer working. This also means that the farmers traditional methods often come up short.
NAC and FAO: Steering a transformation in farming approaches
However, Ghazni is among the other provinces of Afghanistan where most households derive income from agriculture to meet their first necessities, and the local farmers have poor access to agricultural inputs, seeds, and fertilizer. Furthermore, farmers need to understand how to cultivate and harvest their farmlands based on modern farming methods. The results have been a considerable increase in crops.
Testimonies: Transforming lives through innovative agriculture
Qambar, a farmer from the Beny Sang village in the Khwaja Omari-district, is along with his wife Stori, the sole breadwinners in their 10-person family. Due to poor access to sustainable livelihoods, they grappled with dire economic conditions for a long time. After the NAC/FAO-intervnetion, they were supported with certified seeds, food for their livestock, fertilizer, and other agricultural inputs that have enabled them to harvest considerable yields this year.
Qambar states that ‘’Agriculture is the backbone of our livelihoods, and without crops we faced dire economic conditions through the year. With the certified seeds we got from NAC, we saw a considerable increase in our crops.’’
‘’The harvest of the produce from local seeds were always less than what we expected, and the crops were very vulnerable to pests. As a result of certified seed cultivation, the local farmers’ harvest has doubled compared to previous years’’ says Mohammad Asghar, a community leader also from Beny Sang.
‘’The certified seeds provided by NAC are well-adapted to the climate, and the grains it produces are bigger and more nutrient-dense. Where one bag of our previous seeds have yielded 490 kgs of produce, one bag of the certified seeds yielded 1 540 kgs of produce this year!”– Abdul Satar, community leader from the Dahyak-district
Fostering a future of prosperity through agriculture
Our projects for food security with FAO increase access to sustainable livelihoods, empower women, and provides technical assistance and support to local communities on a wide range of areas within agriculture and livestock.
The result of the projects is a considerable surplus of crops, which not only contribute to reducing the risk of hunger and food insecurity, but boosts the local economy when farmers sell their produce at the markets. We work on these projects not only in Ghazni, but in Kabul, Parwan, Panjshir, Kapisa, Takhar, Badakhshan, Faryab, Paktia, Paktika, and Khost.