KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghans will remain in poverty until basic food items are produced within the country, the acting Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Minister said on Wednesday.
Maulvi Attaullah Omari expressed these views while addressing participants of a gathering marking World’s Farm Day at the Institute of Agricultural Researches in Kabul.
Omari said: “Unfortunately, currently we benefit only from the name of agriculture, livestock and irrigation, but we do not have any good achievement in this sector”.
He recalled farmers in the past did not need modified seeds from foreign countries because they were self-sufficient, but after the decades of war in the country, primary food items were not produced in the country.
He asserted: “Until basic food items are produced within the country,the citizens of this country will not get rid of poverty and destitution”.
“The foundation of agriculture begins from agricultural researches and the use of improved quality seeds in farming and farmers must use modified seeds which are distributed by the ministry of agriculture, livestock and irrigation”, Omari added.
He said training programs must be prepared for both farmers and investors who wanted to invest in agricultural field.
The Agricultural and Research Institute has developed 46 types of seeds suitable for the use of farmers in both cold and hot climates.
Maulavi Nasratullah Talha, general director of the Agricultural Research Institute, said there are 23 agricultural and livestock research institutes all over Afghanistan,
Modified seeds of crops such as cereals, corns, beans, soybeans and the seeds of cotton, asafetida and saffron are produced there, he added.
Talha encouraged farmers of the country to use modified seeds in their fields.
Abdul Qadir, a farmer at the institute, said they producse modified seeds in the institute and give them to farmers.
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