Nangarhar Canal Department revenue jumps 20 percent

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): The Canal Department of eastern Nangarhar says it revenue has increased by 20 percent last year compared to the previous year.  One of the reasons behind the increased revenue is joint working with the private sector.

Mualvi Ghulam Kazim, the department director, told Pajhwok Afghan News during an exclusive interview that in 1399 solar year the Canal Department’s revenue stood at 146 million afghanis and reached 157 million afghanis in 1400 solar year, showing a 20 percent increase.

“We have given 70 percent partnership to the private sector because we lack resources and cannot provide adequate services. With the involvement of the private sector, thousands of people have found jobs and our revenue has also increased.”

He said thousands of acres of land which was unused in the past had been given to the private sector under a contract to plant fruit orchards.

Using available resources, Kazim said, they had increased attention to olive, strawberry and date orchards which had increased yield and were increasing yield in each season.

He said a significant increase had been recorded in the yield of olive owing to hard work and timely use of fertilizer and medicines.

“In the past 44000 litres of olive oil was produced but this year due to hard work the olive oil yield reached 121000 litres. We have planted new olive orchards on 150 acres of land.”

He said they planned to reactivate the olive oil processing plant in a standard manner due to increasing yield of olive oil.

He also informed about cultivation of new orange orchards on 4500 acres of land. In addition, Kazim said a new date orchard had been planted on 20 acres of land, the yield of which increased from six tons to 15 tons this year.

According to canal department officials, Nangarhar olive oil and pickles are still very popular in the Italian market and efforts are being made to find similar markets in other countries.

The Nangarhar Olive Production and Processing Factory was established in the 1080s with the technical assistance of the former Soviet Union.

At that time 1050 people worked at the factory against their current strength of just 60 people.

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