Household asset ownership Final NRVA 2005 Report

Afghanistan NRVA 2005 42

3.8.2. Agricultural production

Figure 13: Households owning or managing agricultural land or garden plots Kabul province as capital of the country, Laghman in the east, Nimroz and Kandahar in the south, show low level of access to agricultural land. Land ownership in Kandahar is in the hands of few households and high population density in Kabul and Laghman in comparison to the available arable land limits the access to agricultural land. As expected this map fully matches that of households with agricultural income.

3.8.2.1. Garden plots

Overall, 21 of the households engaged in agriculture in Afghanistan have access to garden plots, with the highest occurrence found among the urban households 29, followed by the Kuchi 24 and 21 among rural households. 15 These plots have been acquired or accessed through inheritance 86, purchase 7, share-crop arrangements 3 and rent 2. Forty-three percent of the plots were bought amongst the Kuchi, 22 among urban households and only 6 among rural households. Share cropping arrangements are most common among the urban households 8 and less than 3 amongst Kuchi or rural households. Table 33: Ownership or management of garden plots Categories Rent Share cropped- in Purchased Inherited Other No. weighted observations Kuchi 2 2 43 50 2 4,884 Rural 2 3 6 87 2 309,369 Urban 5 8 22 63 1 7,094 National 2 3 7 86 2 321,347 The majority 86 of Afghan households that have access to a garden plot receive some benefit from the produce grown on them, and the Kuchi stand out with 98. 15 The absolute numbers of garden ownership for urban and Kuchi household are very low. For Kuchis the figure still seems high considering their semi-nomadic behaviour; however, it likely that they have garden plots in their winter locations. Afghanistan NRVA 2005 43 Nomadic Kuchi have localized access to garden plots in Badakhshan, Balkh, Kabul, Kunduz, Sar-I-Pul and Takhar provinces. Garden ownership of Kuchi in these provinces may be due to high proportion of semi-nomads in these provinces. The average size of urban garden plots is 5.2 jeribs 16 , which is twice the size of Kuchi and rural garden plots 2.6 and 2.7 jeribs, respectively. The larger size of urban garden plots is possibly due to the fact that some urban dwellers own plots in the outskirts of the cities and they call them ‘garden plots’; the questionnaire did not establish a size limit on the definition for this type of land. Out of those households with access to a garden plot, 46 grow fruit and nut trees as the main crop, followed by 32 growing grapes and 10 growing wheat. This 10 growing wheat might come from young garden plots with inter-cropping Table 34: Most important crops in garden plots Frequency First most important crop Second most important crop Third most important crop +++ fruitnut trees 44 grapes 23 fodder 20 ++ grapes 32 fruitnut trees 16 other 13 + wheat 12 fodder 12 vegetables 12 The top three frequencies within the first, second, and third most important crops. Overall, the most common source of water is through irrigation canals 49, karez 17 20 and springs 9. The most commonly grown crops in garden plots fruit trees, grapes, wheat, fodder, and vegetables, among others. The garden plots play a key role in diet diversification either for home consumption or commercialization whenever there are some surpluses.

3.8.2.2. Irrigated land

Seventy-four percent of the rural households have access to irrigated land, followed by urban 65 and Kuchi 55 households. Many urban dwellers have retained ownership or access to their lands in the rural areas and it does not necessarily mean that their lands are in the urban areas. Table 35: Irrigated land among those engaged in agriculture Categories No. weighted observations Kuchi 55 12,210 Rural 74 1,279,311 Urban 65 20,161 National 74 1,311,682 Access to irrigated land amongst rural households engaged in agriculture is most scarce in Badghis and Sar-I-Pul less than 20 in contrast to Hilmand, Nangarhar, Nimroz, Nuristan and Paktika where 95 or more have access to irrigated land. While Kuchi households in Nangarhar, Paktika and Zabul have access to irrigated land, none of the Kuchi households have access to irrigated land in Farah and Faryab. Likewise, while all the urban households engaged in agriculture in Kandahar and Nangarhar have access to irrigated land; overall 65 of the urban households engaged in agriculture have access to irrigated land. 16 Five jeribs is approximately one hectare. 17 Traditional system to collect subsoil water through gravitational pull within tunnels in the foothills.