97
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
Rain-fed land tenure
Farming households in Afghanistan use less often rain-fed land than irrigated land. Around one in six households around 620 thousand owns any land of this type
Table 6.3
. In view of the generally marginal productivity of rain-fed land, the proportion of households that owns small land areas of less
than 4 jeribs 0.8 ha. is only 23 percent and 43 percent owns 10 jeribs 2 ha. or more. The average rain-fed landholding is even 13.2 jeribs 2.6 ha. and the median size is 7.0 jeribs 1.4 ha.. Compared
to NRVA 2011-12, the proportion of households owning rain-fed land has changed very little, but the average land holding has dropped from 16.4 jeribs 3.3 ha.. It is likely that population pressure is a
contributing factor to the decrease of average size of rain-fed land. As with irrigated land, there is some difference between land ownership and actual access to rain-fed
land. Although the effect is somewhat smaller than for irrigated land, leasing, sharecropping and mortgaging of rain-fed land results in a net transfer of land from urban landowners to rural land users,
as well as in an accumulation of land in bigger cultivation areas.
Figure 6.4
shows the percentage of households owning rain-fed farm land by province. Rain-fed farming is mostly limited to the broad northern belt of Afghanistan, while in the southern provinces
very few households own this type of land.
98
Table 6.3: Households, by a ownership of rain-fed land and b access to rain-fed land, rain-fed land size in percentages; also stating mean and median rain-fed land size in jeribs
Ownership Percentage
Access Percentage
Total 100.0
Total 100.0
No ownership 83.7
No access 83.9
Any ownership 16.3
Any access 16.1
Less than 2.0 jeribs 7.0
Less than 2.0 jeribs 6.4
2.0-3.9 jeribs 18.3
2.0-3.9 jeribs 17.4
4.0-5.9 jeribs 16.6
4.0-5.9 jeribs 16.3
6.0-9.9 jeribs 15.6
6.0-9.9 jeribs 16.1
10.0-19.9 jeribs 23.3
10.0-19.9 jeribs 23.3
20 jeribs or more 19.3
20 jeribs or more 20.5
Mean land size 13.2
Mean land size 13.7
Median land size 7.0
Median land size 8.0
Figure 6.4: Percentage of households owning rain-fed farm land, by province
Rain-fed land cultivated and not-cultivated
ALCS 2013-14 household information suggests that the total land area available for rain-fed land farming is the same as irrigated land area: 182 thousand km
2
, with Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Balkh, Herat and Takhar accounting for two-thirds of the rain-fed land. However, one third of this land 32 percent was
left uncultivated. In 12 out of 34 provinces the part of the rain-fed land that is left fallow is even more than half. The poor quality of the soil was the predominant reason for not cultivating rain-fed land 37
percent, followed by the lack of money to provide inputs in farming the land 25 percent
Figure 6.5
.
99
Figure 6.5: Households owning rain-fed land for irrigation left fallow, by reason for not cultivating the land, and by residence in percentages
Crop production from rain-fed land
Of all households farming rain-fed land, one third produce two different crops and one quarter produce even three different crops. Almost all households farming rain-fed land produce wheat. For 93 percent,
this is the most important crop and an additional 2 percent produce wheat as a second or third crop. Almost one quarter 24 percent of households cultivating rain-fed land produce barley, most as a
second or third crop. Despite the equally large land area, production from rain-fed land is small compared to that of irrigated
land. Based on households reporting to the ALCS, 672 thousand tonnes of cereals were produced on rain-fed land, compared to 2,570 thousand tonnes on irrigated land
Table 6.4
. Of all cereal production on rain-fed land, 90 percent consists of wheat. The production of melons is relatively more important,
adding 50 thousand tonnes to the 119 thousand tonnes on irrigated land.
Table 6.4: Crop production from rain-fed land in spring cultivation season in thousand tonnes
Crop Thousand tonnes
Total cereals 672
Wheat 605
Barley 64
Maize, sorghum 3
Melonwatermelon 50
Other crops 31
37 25
16 11
4 6
14 15
24 20
13 15
39 26
16 10
4 6
5 10
15 20
25 30
35 40
45
Land infertile shifting
cultivation No money for
cultivation No manpower
to help Lack of water
Security concerns
Other reason P
er cen
tg ae
Reason for not cultivating land Total
Urban Rural
100
6.2.3 Farming input
