Indigo (Pajhwok): Almond orchards in central Daikundi province produced 33,000 metric tons of the dried fruit last solar year, local officials said.
Daikundi agriculture officials linked the decrease in almond yield to drought.
Bashir Ahmad Rafi, Daikundi agriculture director, told Pajhwok Afghan News that Daikundi almond yields increased compared to last year’s harvest, but decreased compared to the previous two years due to drought.
He said that Daikundi had 24 types of almonds grown in 10 districts, of which Shahrestan,Miramur, Nili and Pato districts had the highest almond yields.
Daikundi residents export the fruit annually to provinces such as Kabul, Ghazni and Kandahar, from where the fruit is then exported to the United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan and some other countries, he said.
Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock announced that Daikundi almonds topped the list of all provinces in terms of quality.
According to the statistics provided by Daikundi Agriculture Department, the province produced over 75,000 metric tons of almond in 2019, over 25,000 metric tons in 2020 and over 33,000 metric tons in 2021.
Daikundi residents often complain about the lack of market for the dried fruit. Drought and poor transportation routes are other challenges facing Daikundi farmers.
The current government acknowledges the mentioned challenges but emphasizes that previous officials also did not do much on the regard.
Daikundi agriculture director says that they are trying to find good market for the province’s almond this year.
As 90 percent of Daikundi residents are farmers, and 80 percent of them make money by selling almonds, there are still no almond processing plants in the province.
Two years back, for the first time in 2020, an almond processing company in the capital of Daikundi was opened at a cost of 6.1 million afghanis by Oxfam Organization.
Bashir Ahmad Rafi said that another small factory was also opened in Sharestan district, but they suspended their activities after the previous regime collapsed.
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