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Just over half farming households 54 percent use tractors or other motorised power as traction power for ploughing. Somewhat less
– 41 percent – use oxen or other animals and 5 percent use human power for ploughing.
Agricultural extension services are used to a limited extent. The exception is Herat, where 90 percent of farmers used these services. Other provinces with relatively widespread use are Wardak, Nangarhar,
Paktya and Jawzjan, where use ranges between 40 and 68 percent. On the other hand, 15 in provinces use is less than 10 percent.
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The main reason why farmers did not use these extension was lack of knowledge how to find or obtain the services 35 percent. Other reasons frequently mentioned included
reluctance from the service side to work with the farmer 20 percent and the distance to the service 16 percent. Costs were mentioned as the main reason in 9 percent of the cases.
6.2.4 Horticulture
Tenure and size of garden plots
Produce from garden plots is important for many Afghanistan households, in terms of supplementation of their consumption diet, as well as their household income. Valuable garden products with high-
nutrient content – especially fruits and nuts – are harvested from horticulture production. Overall, 13
percent of households own a garden plot. Having a garden plot is more widespread in rural areas –
where 16 percent of households own a plot – but even in urban areas, 5 percent have one. Especially in
the central-eastern provinces of Zabul, Paktika, Ghazni, Wardak, Bamyan and Parwan many households – between 25 and 50 percent – own garden plots.
Garden plots are substantially smaller in size than normal farm land, irrigated or rain-fed. The mean plot size is 1.9 jeribs 0.4 ha.
Table 6.6a
, but 55 percent of the garden-plot owners have one jerib or less. The lease or rent, sharecropping and mortgage of garden plots is far less common than that of farm
land. Consequently, there is very little difference between the distribution of owning and accessing garden plots. However, as with farm land, a noticeable transfer occurs from urban dwellers, who
probably own garden plots in their province of origin, to rural garden plot tillers.
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These provinces are Zabul, Khost, Badakhshan, Nimroz, Takhar, Kandahar, Daykundi, Samangan, Ghor, Faryab, Farah, Kapisa, Badghis, Sar-e-Pul and Parwan.
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Table 6.6: Households, by a ownership of garden plot and b access to garden plot, garden plot size in percentages; also stating mean and median garden plot size in jeribs
Ownership Percentage
Access Percentage
Total 100.0
Total 100.0
No ownership 87.4
No access 87.8
Any ownership 12.6
Any access 12.2
Less than 1.0 jerib 27.4
Less than 1.0 jerib 26.6
1.0-1.9 jeribs 34.6
1.0-1.9 jeribs 34.8
2.0-3.9 jeribs 28.1
2.0-3.9 jeribs 28.9
4.0-5.9 jeribs 6.0
4.0-5.9 jeribs 5.9
6.0-9.9 jeribs 1.9
6.0-9.9 jeribs 1.9
10 jeribs or more 2.0
10 jeribs or more 1.8
Mean plot size 1.9
Mean plot size 1.9
Median plot size 1.0
Median plot size 1.0
Horticulture production
The crops that were most commonly grown on garden plots are grapes on 35 percent of garden plots and apples on 29 percent. Grapes were mostly used for fresh consumption or marketing, but around
one third was dried before selling or consumption. Apricots and nuts were the third- and fourth-most commonly grown crops, on 17 and 15 percent of garden plots, respectively. Also apricots are mostly
used fresh. Fodder was an important secondary crop, grown on 11 percent of garden plots.
Table 6.7
gives the harvested produce from garden plots.
Table 6.7: Fruit and crop production from garden plots in thousand tonnes
Crop Total
Fresh grapes 304
Dried grapes 50
Apples 239
Fresh apricots 38
Dried apricots 8
Pommegrenades 62
Plums 18
Other fruit 19
Nuts 21
Fodder 88
Other crop 7
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6.3 Livestock
