Pistachio yield slumps by 76pc in Samangan

AIBAK (Pajhwok): The pistachio yield has decreased by 76 percent in northern Samangan province this year, local officials said on Sunday.

Mohammad Rahman Arghandiwal, the director of agriculture, told Pajhwok Afghan News a survey by his department showed four percent of pistachio trees had produced the fruit in 2019, compared with 17 percent in the previous year.

He cited a lack of rain at the cultivation time and climate change as major factors behind the falling pistachio yield.

He informed 42 hectares of pistachio forests existed in the provincial capital and in Hazrat Sultan, Feroz Nakhchir and Dara-i-Bala districts.

The agriculture department has tasked individuals with harvesting pistachio forests. The harvest takes place at a specific time.

Arghandiwal said Samangan residents had collected more than 212 tonnes of pistachio from natural forests and earned 265 million afghanis last year.

But they could not collect this big an amount this year, the agriculture director added.

sa/mud