Crops’ yield drastically drops in drought hit Parwan districts

CHARIKAR (Pajwhok): Farmers in central Parwan say their crops’ yield has significantly decreased due to drought and scarcity of water.

Mohammad Jamshid, a resident of Rahasht village, told Pajhwok Afghan News he inherited farming from his father and he supported his six member family through the occupation, but due to drought this year, he did not collect any good harvest from his land.

He said: “In the past we would twice collect harvests worth up to 50,000 afs per acre, but this year we collected harvest worth less than 30,000 afs from an acre.”

Another farmer, Mohammad Akbar, from 11^th district of Charikar city, made similar complaint.

Akbar said in the past they would collect crops worth 50,000 to 60,000 afs from each acre of land, but this year the yield decreased to 20,000 afs per acre.

Rahatullah, another farmer in Qalai Naw village on the outskirts of Charikar, said their farms had dropped yields by 80 percent compared to the past.

Ha said: “We did not reap anything from the second season of this year due to scarcity of irrigation water, our corn crop dried due to lack of water and we have nothing to sell.”

Maulvi Mohammad Niazi, deputy director of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation department, said Khalazai, Rahasht, Aghil Kabuli and Sunjdara villages of the provincial capital and Noor Khan, Chinar Karizak, Kariz Bala, Kariz Dakri villages of Bagram district experienced severe shortage of irrigation water.

“Cultivations on hundreds of acres of land dried because of the drought or affected badly due to less water”, he said.

He added: “A meeting between some engineers, farmers and experts was held to discuss solution to water shortage problem in the provincial capital and nine districts of the province, to prevent water waste and adopt drip irrigation as a substitute.”

Maulvi Mohammad Niazi said hundreds of farmers had been distributed chemical fertilizers and modified seeds and other organizations had been advised to clean water channels to avoid the waste of water and increase production.

According to figures with the provincial Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation department, 75 percent of residents of Parwan are associated with farming and they run their lives with income from the agriculture sector.

In August this year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced that 25 of 34 provinces of Afghanistan are facing severe drought and Afghanistan is one of ten most vulnerable countries to climate change.

aw/ma