KABUL (Pajhwok): The National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) on Tuesday said approximately 4.83 million metric tons of wheat was produced across the country in the current solar year,, showing a 10 percent surge over last year’s harvest.
In a statement, NSIA said it had identified areas for wheat cultivation nationwide for the year 1403 using remote sensing technology and satellite imagery analysis.
According to NSIA, this year, approximately 2.12 million hectares of land were under wheat cultivation in the country, of which 1.38 million hectares were irrigated and 736 thousand hectares were rain-fed.
The area under wheat cultivation this year constitutes about 70 percent of the total agricultural land in the country.
The statement further indicated that there has been an increase of 2.8 percent in irrigated area and 8.2 percent in rain-fed area under cultivation compared to last year, with the main reasons for this increase being timely seasonal rains and switching from opium poppy cultivation to wheat.
It added that the highest amounts of irrigated wheat were grown in provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Farah, and Kunduz, while the most rain-fed wheat was cultivated in Takhar, Herat, Badghis, and Faryab provinces.
Additionally, considering the population estimates, the total wheat requirement across the country is approximately 6.82 million metric tons, indicating a shortfall of about 2 million metric tons based on the wheat production in 1403.
It emphasized that the authority has analyzed and processed satellite images in the Geographic Information System from the time of sowing to the harvest of the crop and presented the figures accordingly.
On the other hand, Mohammad Halim Rafi, spokesman for this authority, told Pajhwok that last year, 4.35 million metric tons of wheat were harvested from across the country.
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