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With a varied geography and topography, out of 652 thousand square kilometres of total land area, only an estimated 12 percent is arable, 3 percent of the land is considered forest-covered, 46 percent is under
permanent pasture and 39 percent is mountainous, not usable for agriculture CSO 2014. This chapter deals with various aspects of Afghanistan’s agricultural sector and is divided into two main
parts: section 6.2 on farming and horticulture, and section 6.3 on livestock-related information.
6.2 Farming and horticulture
Land tenure in Afghanistan involves a complex system of ownership and access through renting, sharecropping and mortgaging. Furthermore, significant differences exist between productivity of
irrigated and rain-fed land. Thus, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock MAIL estimates that typically yield of wheat from irrigated fields is 2.7 times higher than that from rain-fed
fields MAIL 2012. Horticulture involves again harvests that have high monetary value, even though usually garden plots are small in terms of size. Consequently, this section on farming treats the different
types of land
– irrigated, rain-fed and garden plot – separately, and distinguishes the different types of land tenure.
6.2.1 Irrigated land
Irrigated land tenure
Some 37 percent of all households in Afghanistan – approximately 1.4 million households – own any
irrigated farm land. The majority of these land owners 63 percent have a farm size of less than 4 jeribs 0.8 ha.
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, whereas the median and mean irrigated land size is, respectively, 2.5 and 6.1 jeribs 1.2 and 0.5 ha.
Table 6.1
. The trend of an increasing share of land owners with small landholdings – below
four jeribs – that was observed in NRVA 2011-12, has continued. In 2007-08 the proportion with such
small landholdings was 54 percent and this increased to 58 percent in 2011-12. This trend towards smaller land size is also reflected in the lower median size of owned irrigated land: half of land owners
have now less than 2.5 jeribs of land, compared to 3.0 jeribs in 2011-12. It is very likely that the fragmentation of land is a result of the fast population growth that Afghanistan is experiencing see
chapter 3, which results in an increasing pressure on the limited area of irrigable land. A disproportionate share of irrigated land is owned by urban households: while urban households make
up 10 percent of all households that own irrigated land, they own almost 19 percent of the land. This is also reflected in the larger average irrigated land size owned by urban households compared to rural
households: 11.1 against 5.4 jeribs. Apparently, irrigated land is accumulated by urban dwellers. The proportion of rural households that own any irrigated land is 46 percent.
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One jerib is 0.2 hectare 2,000 m
2
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Table 6.1: Households, by a ownership of irrigated land and b access to irrigated land, irrigated land size in percentages; also stating mean and median irrigated land size in jeribs
a. Ownership b. Access
Ownership Percentage
Access Percentage
Total 100.0
Total 100.0
No ownership 63.4
No access 63.8
Any ownership 36.6
Any access 36.2
Less than 2.0 jeribs 34.3
Less than 2.0 jeribs 30.4
2.0-3.9 jeribs 28.2
2.0-3.9 jeribs 27.6
4.0-5.9 jeribs 14.2
4.0-5.9 jeribs 15.4
6.0-9.9 jeribs 9.5
6.0-9.9 jeribs 10.7
10.0-19.9 jeribs 8.5
10.0-19.9 jeribs 10.1
20 jeribs or more 5.3
20 jeribs or more 5.8
Mean land size 6.1
Mean land size 6.6
Median land size 2.5
Median land size 3.0
Besides owning land, households can also access additional land for cultivation by renting- or leasing- in, sharecropping-in or mortgaging-in. Vice versa, land owners can provide access to land to other
households by renting- or leasing-out, sharecropping-out or mortgaging-out. Some land owners transfer access of all their land to others for land cultivation. Around 5 percent of households reported that they
had access to additional irrigated land without ownership of that land, by renting- or leasing-in, sharecropping-in or mortgaging-in. For 3 percent some 114 thousand households this was the only
way of accessing irrigated land, the other 2 percent had also other land in ownership. On the other hand, 9 percent of households that owned irrigated land themselves provided access for cultivating to their
land or part of their land to other households. Most of the land around three quarters that was cultivated by a household that did not own land itself was transferred in an arrangement of sharecropping between
the owner and cultivator, while another sizeable part between one quarter and one fifth was rented and a negligible proportion was mortgaged.
The typical share that is given to the sharecropping landowner is 50 percent of the farm produce by 57 percent of sharecroppers. One quarter 26 percent gave less than 50 percent of the produce and 17
percent more than 50 percent. The proportion of households owning any irrigated land 36.6 percent; Table 6.1, panel a is almost the
same as the proportion having access to any irrigated land 36.3 percent; panel b. However, transfer of access to land does affect the size of land being cultivated by farming households. Whereas the
proportion landholders owning at least 4 jeribs of irrigated land was 37 percent, the share of households with access to at least 4 jerbs land was 42 percent. The transfer of access to land has the effect of
increasing the mean and median area of irrigated land that is accessed, becoming 6.6 and 3.0 jeribs, respectively.
The transfer of irrigated land for cultivation occurred particularly from landowners living in urban areas – usually detached from their land – to rural households. More than two fifth 41 percent of the land
owned by urban households is transferred to other households for cultivation. In absolute land area, this is more than rural land-owning households do, who transferred only 8 percent of irrigated land to others.
Compared to 46 percent of rural households that own any irrigated land, the proportion that has access to land increases to 48 percent if renting, leasing and mortgaging arrangements are included. And the
share of rural households that has access to at least 4 jeribs of irrigated land is almost 3 percentage points higher at 20 percent than the share that owns at least 4 jeribs.
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The percentage of irrigated land ownership by province is given in
Figure 6.1
. The figure shows on average higher proportions of households owning irrigated land in the range that runs east-west through
the country, and in river-drained Helmand province. Kabul is an exception, because of the highly urbanised residence and relatively few households remaining with landholdings.
Figure 6.1: Percentage of households owning irrigated farm land, by province
Irrigated land cultivated and not-cultivated
Based on information provided by households, the total land area available for irrigated cultivation is around 183 thousand km
2
, with Balkh and Helmand accounting for almost one-quarter of this total area. However, a large part of this area
– 31 percent – was not cultivated, particularly in the north-eastern part of the country. Close to 10 percent of households that cultivated irrigated land indicated to have
cultivated less area then in the previous harvesting spring, while nearly 4 percent mentioned to have cultivated more land. The majority of households 87 percent cultivated about the same area.
The infertility of land and particularly the lack of irrigation water are the main reasons for not cultivating available land
Figure 6.2
. Together they account for 60 percent of the reasons mentioned why households leave
– part of – their land fallow. These two reasons that are related to the physical conditions of farming are more important for rural households than for urban households. Urban
households, who often live away from their land, more often mentioned other reasons, including security concerns likely the reason why they moved to another place of residence and lack of
manpower which more difficult to manage from a distance. However, also for households residing in urban areas, the lack of irrigation water is the most important reason for not cultivating land. Provinces
that were particularly affected by lack of water included the southern and central provinces of Zabul, Kandahar and Urozgan, Daykundi and Ghor. Irrespective of whether households mentioned the lack of
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water as the main reason for leaving land fallow, half of them 49 percent indicated that irrigation water was insufficient.
Figure 6.2: Households owning land for irrigation left fallow, by reason for not cultivating the land, and by residence in percentages
The problem of irrigation water supply was particularly severe for land that depended on water from rivers, canals and dammed water basins. For households depending on this type water supply
– 63 percent of all households with irrigated land
Figure 6.3
– the lack of water was the reason for not cultivating land in 53 percent of the cases. Other systems of water supply
– irrigated deep-well pump, spring, kariz, snow melt among others
– were relatively more reliable, as for these lack of water was mentioned as reason for not cultivating by 37 to 45 percent of households. The north-eastern provinces
of Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, Samangan, Panshjer, Kapisa and Parwan depend to the highest extent – between 86 and 99 percent – on irrigation from rivers, canals and dammed water bodies.
40
20 14
12 3
11 31
8 20
14 10
17 42
23 12
12 2
10 5
10 15
20 25
30 35
40 45
Lack of water Land infertile shifting
cultivation No manpower
to help No money for
cultivation Security
concerns Other reason
P er
cen tg
ae
Reason for not cultivating land Total
Urban Rural
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Figure 6.3: Main source of water for irrigated land in percentages
Crop production from irrigated land
The large majority of households cultivating irrigated land – 85 percent, corresponding to more than
million households – grew wheat on their land for the spring harvesting season. For 78 percent wheat
was also the most important crop produced. Some 17 percent of households cultivating irrigated land produced fodder crops including alfalfa and clover in the spring harvest season, both potatoes and
maizesorghum were each produced by 14 percent of households and barley by 7 percent. Next to wheat, potatoes were the most important crop for 7 percent of households, while for 4 percent fodder crops
were the main crops produced. About half of the households cultivating irrigated land also grew a second crop, and for these the most common second crops were maize and fodder 24 and 19 percent,
respectively, followed by wheat 12 percent and potatoes and barley each 11 percent. A minority of 12 percent of cultivating households also grew a third crop. For one third of these, fodder was the main
third crop, followed by potatoes 17 percent. One third of households with access to irrigated land also produced crops in the winter harvesting
season. Maize or sorghum was produced by 38 percent of these households during the winter harvesting season, 31 percent of them produced wheat and 21 percent produced rice.
The estimated farm production of Afghan households is presented in
Table 6.2
. According to the households reporting in the ALCS 2013-14, 1.9 million tonnes of wheat were harvested in the spring
and winter harvesting season combined
Table 6.2
. Maize and rice are the second and third crops produced, with 400 and 243 thousand tonnes respectively, most of which are harvested in the winter
season. Total cereal production – wheat, maizesorghum, barley, rice and millet – amounted to 2.6
million tonnes. Potatoes, onions and melons are the other main food crops produced, and fodder crops is another main non-food farm produce.
62.7
9.7 10.0
8.8
6.7 2.2
37.3
Irrigated river, canal, dam Irrigated deep well pump
Spring Kariz
Absialab, snow melt, flood Other
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Table 6.2: Crop production from irrigated land by harvesting season in thousand tonnes
Crop Total
Spring Winter
Total cereals 2,570
1,961 609
Wheat 1,856
1,714 142
Maize, sorghum 400
169 230
Rice 243
25 218
Barley 65
50 15
Millet 5
2 3
Potatoes 332
314 18
Onions 250
220 30
Melonwatermelon 119
113 6
Tomatoes 64
57 7
Beans 25
20 5
Okra 22
19 3
Other vegetables 74
29 45
Other fruits and nuts 9
5 4
Fodder 370
285 84
Cotton 46
12 34
6.2.2 Rain-fed land
