KABUL: Afghanistan expects to pull in a bigger grain harvest in the current 2011-12 season and avoid a repeat of last year’s severe food shortages, its agriculture minister said this week.
Afghanistan consumes around 6.5 million tonnes of grain annually, of which 5.4 million tonnes are wheat, its staple crop, and the rest consist of rice and barley. Last season, a drought led to a deficit of nearly 2 million tonnes.
“So far rainfall is above average. Especially in the drought-stricken areas it has been very good ... if it keeps above average throughout, we will be fine for this year,” Agriculture Minister Mohammad Asif Rahimi told Reuters.
The wheat harvest normally runs from late May to August.
The wheat harvest normally runs from late May to August.
Rahimi said even if rainfall continues at its current level, Afghanistan will still need to import up to a million tonnes of cereals, mainly from Kazakhstan and Pakistan.
Last season’s drought did not have a major impact on Afghanistan’s output of melons, grapes, almonds and other fruits, largely grown for export, which rose 5 percent compared with the previous season.
“If we grow between 3 and 5 percent each year, this will be good for economic growth in the rural areas,” Rahimi said.
His ministry plans to focus on crops for which the country has established markets. Afghanistan was the world’s top producer of raisins in the 1960s, and almonds are another key crop.
“No matter how many almonds we grow, India will buy them. There is a huge market. India has lifted all customs duty on agricultural products from Afghanistan, so we send them duty-free,” he said.
Formerly an important producer of grapes and other fruit, Afghanistan’s vineyards became minefields during the years of conflict, while the roads needed to move crops were destroyed by decades of fighting.
Access to international markets is also limited by difficult relations with neighbouring Pakistan. As a result, landlocked Afghanistan wants to reach a trade agreement with Iran to open a link via Iran’s Chabahar port to the sea, Rahimi said.
One of Afghanistan’s major disadvantages is its lack of adequate cold storage capacity, which means many products are sent to Pakistan for storage and then trucked back over the border in the off-season, while wheat also goes to Pakistan for milling. “Potatoes go to Pakistan for storage and come back; onions go to Pakistan and come back. That’s insane,” Rahimi said. reuters
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