Afghanistan Agriculture Expert Association(AAEA)

Kabul, Afganistan

An Overview Of Our Solution

plantation of grafted wild almond for rehabilitation of range land, improvement of livelihood, environment and biodiversity in Afghanistan.

Who is this solution impacting?

Organization type

Perusahaan

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Deserts

Freshwater

Grasslands

Oceans/Coasts

Population impacted

7000

Size of agricultural area

500 hectares

Production quantity

300.000 kilos per year

People employed

1000

Describe your solution

We found during field observation that the farmers are protect the wild almond (bitter almond) to collect nuts and produce almond oils and sold it as traditional medicine with reasonable price, this was the best lesson we learned that the people would like to protect the profitable trees in the area, therefor we aim to make these wild almond more profitable by grafting with commercial almond and intercropping with high value crops, and providing supplemental irrigation facilities to reduce risks of failure harvest and adaption of eco-friendly low cost techniques to protect soil moisture content in dry land areas. Fortunately some types of mountain rocks in Kabul province have appreciable porosity, these types of rocks do indeed store and supply water, in the meanwhile, this phenomenon indicates that fractured or weathered rocks can be regarded as rooting medium via storing available water for plant use. Saffron, alfalfa, ferula and black cumin are also the rarest drought resistance high value crops can survive in severe condition and water shortage, which are suitable intercrop between rows of young orchards of wild almond rootstock in dry land farming to make use of the soil, light, moisture and nutrients from the top soil which is not be used by almond trees and provide significant product and income to support farmer’s livelihoods until the trees bearing fruits and nuts, by this way the top soil will protected and increase green cover & it will also provide safe habitat

Describe your implementation

The project aims to establish 500 hectares of grafted wild almond demonstration orchards under dry condition, which is 498 hectares in rain fed area of Kalakan, Qarabagh and shakardara districts and one hectares pilot or research orchard in waste land of farza district and one hectare in rang land of Shakardara districts of Kabul province. Project outputs: Output-1: project office well equipped and staffed at district level Output-2: Raising the awareness of farmers to improve soil and water conservation in dry land areas by plantation and management of grafted wild almond rootstock sapling. Output-3: Adequate certified grafted wild almond sapling and seeds of drought resistance crops for intercropping and supplemental irrigation facilities are available for farmers with reasonable price. Output-4: Provided technical training and support to farmers that can be able to adapt supplement irrigation, sustainable eco-friendly good agricultural practices to produce high quality organic product and access to profitable markets. Project Activities: 1.1 Hiring of one soil expert as a project manager and trainer 1.2 Hiring of to 5 extension agent to facilitate the workshop and provide extension services 1.3 Rent office and well equipped with computer, internet and furniture for project management 2.1 Conduct the awareness workshop 2.2 Select the interested beneficiaries and target area. 3.1 Contract with legal nursery grower to produce certified grafted wild almond sapling . 3.2 Monitor nursery field from sowing up to transplanting 4.1 Design the orchard for project beneficiaries during October. 4.2 Transplant of certified grafted wild almond sapling from nursery to farmer’s field. 4.3 provide supplement irrigation facilities 4.4 Provide technical training for project beneficiaries Arrange field day for farmers from other similar area

External connections

The project committed to hire enough number of qualify horticulturist staff which has the extension skill that can be encourage plantation of drought-tolerance grafted sapling of almond for orchard establishment in rain fed condition and utilizing drought resistant crop such as saffron, black cumin, ferula, local alfalfa for intercropping and can be able to adapt supplement irrigation and proper eco-friendly techniques in dry land farming to makes people more interested to use the rarest drought resistance crops to increase the productivity, production and profitability of dry land farming to improve their livelihoods and nutrition. The project seeks to coordinate the project implementation with key stakeholders such as General Directorate of Natural Resources Management at MAIL, PAIL and DAIL and directly engage the community development council and natural resources management council in the project planning, monitoring and evaluation by raising their awareness to improve soil and water conservation and improvement of livelihoods by plantation and management of drought resistance plants in target area.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

About 2426 hectares of rain fed lands, 53325 hectares of range lands and 8680 hectares of barren lands are available for rehabilatation in target districts of Kabul province The total population of urban area in Kabul province is five times more than rural area, therefore market is available for rural products. The total crop production of Kabul province in 2008 was estimated at 392524 metric tons consisting of fruit (72%), the main fruit and nuts are grape, apple, almond and peaches, cultivated in irrigated area. Grains consisting (17%), Wheat is the main staple grain produced under irrigation and rain fed condition, the productivity of wheat in rain fed area is three times less than irrigate area, and the productivity of almond in irrigate area is about 1800 kg per hectares, therefore we can estimate 600 kg/ha almond production in rain fed area. Biodiversity of the dry land area is seriously affected by soil erosion, drought and de-vegetation. Normally communities cut bush & tree

Describe the context in which you are operating

Afghanistan is a semi-arid landlocked country, only7.5 million hectares (11.7%) of total land is under cultivation, about 5.6% is under irrigation only 2.6 million hectares are cultivated annually, & 5.8% is rain fed, only 1.5 million hectares are cultivated annually, irrigated orchard and vineyard growing areas are still very limited, due to less investment on irrigation infrastructure and large area of irrigated lands allocated for staple food production, only 117,642 hectares are under orchard and 82,450 hectares are under vineyards, which cover 0.3% of total geographical land of the country(land atlas of Afghanistan-MAIL/FAO 2015). Therefore a great potential for utilization of rain fed land by plantation of grafted wild almond rootstocks with supplement irrigation and adapting of eco-friendly good agriculture practices is the only solution for dry land rehabilitation and livelihoods improvement in marginal area of Afghanistan.
Most of the dry lands including mountains in Afghanistan have rough, broken and stony lands with shallow soil and long with gullied lands, they comprise 26.7% of the country and are classified as barren, marginal or waste lands, and rang land comprise 46.3% of the country with very limited vegetation for feeding of animals. Afghanistan is still dominated by its rural communities & livelihoods, about 36-40% of Afghans live below the national poverty line unable to meet their basic needs & dietary requirement, but agriculture still plays key role

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

The main purpose of the project is to encouraging people utilizing grafted wild almond rootstock sapling and supplemental irrigation facilities for establishment of new orchard for production of commercial almond in rain fed area, range land and waste land under dry condition with shallow, rocky and eroded soils of the country (52 percent of the total geographical area of the country), therefore utilization of this area is of great importance for sustainable land management, food production, job creation, poverty reduction, environment protection and biodiversity conservation in dry land areas. The project aims to select the suitable rain fed lands already cultivated by project beneficiaries and installation of supplemental irrigation facilities, and direct plantation of wild almond seeds and grafted with commercial almond, and encouraging farmers to utilize saffron bulbs, local alfalfa seeds, ferula seeds and cumin seedling as a intercropping and adopting supplemental irrigation and eco-friendly agriculture practices t and post- harvest technique, by these ways can enhancing the re-vegetation and green area to reduce soil erosion and protect the ecosystem and environment, increasing productivity, production and net income of dry land farming, to assure food security and improve livelihoods of project beneficiaries.

Language(s)

Dari and Pashto

Water

In 2007, around 51% of household in rural and urban area has access to irrigation water, only 3% of rural housholds and 2% of urban households had access to rain-fed land

Food Security/Nutrition

Calorie deficiency(%consuming less than 2100 calories per day): 17.9%, and also 57% of household during the year with problem of satisfying food needs.

Economic/Sustainable Development

About 53% of all household in the province drive income from trade and services, 27% from nonfarm related labor. Agriculture is a major source of revenue for 41% of rural households, livestock also accounts for income for 8% of rural households.

Climate

Kabul has a cold semi-arid climate with precipitation concentrated in the winter (almost exclusively falling as snow) and spring months. Temperatures are relatively cool compared to much of Southwest Asia, mainly due to the high elevation of the city. Summer has very low humidity, providing relief from the heat. Autumn features warm afternoons and sharply cooler evenings. Winters are cold, with a January daily average of −2.3 °C (27.9 °F). Spring is the wettest time of the year, though temperat

Sustainability

We estimate that the income of the target farmers are increased about 4 time comparing to rain fed wheat cultivation, therefore the farmers are not rely on grant funding or government subsidies after project complation

Return on investment

The total cost of the project is about #2 million and the income of the farmers increased 4 time then before of project implementation and this income will be continue for several years.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

Wild almond is the rarest drought resistance native trees naturally grown under severe ecosystem (on the limestone rocks, high fractured bedrocks with large cracks, shallow, and eroded soils of the range land and waste land) in Afghanistan, in such ecosystem undergoes severe stress during summer season because precipitation is absent; climate is very hot & dry with low relative humidity and high evapotranspiration, however wild almond has a root system far below the lower boundary of shallow soils into fracture bed rocks, and higher ability of roots (a deep root which is penetration far below the soil overlying bed) to store and absorb water at low soil moisture content, In spite of such severe conditions and water shortage, wild almond can survive even have significant product to provide significant income. Our previous experience show that it is possible to graft commercial irrigated almond on wild almond rootstock and providing a small amount of supplemental irrigation & adapting

Overview