Sale of animals and animal products Livestock production factors

104 Figure 6.7: Percentage of households owning any cattle, by province

6.3.2 Sale of animals and animal products

Table 6.9 provides the number of animals sold in the year preceding the interview of the ALCS survey. Compared to NRVA 2011-12, the number of sold cattle dropped by 100 thousand head and the number of chickens by around 240 thousand. On the other hand, the number of goats and sheep sold increased by around 150 thousand and 1 million, respectively. Table 6.9: Number of livestock sold in the year prior to the survey, by animal type in thousands Animal type Animals Cattle 341 Oxen, yaks 70 Horses 10 Donkeys 83 Goats 3,037 Sheep 5,880 Chickens 1,143 Other poultry 93 105

6.3.3 Livestock production factors

Various services are offered to livestock owners to improve the condition of their animals. These services include access to feed concentrate, vaccination, veterinary services, credit, marketing and advise on feeding, breeding and management of animals. ALCS 2013-14 included information about some of these components. Almost three quarters of livestock owners 73 percent reported that they had access to animal feed concentrate. This is significantly more than the figure reported in NRVA 2011-12 53 percent. However, only 37 percent mentioned that they accessed sufficient animal feed concentrate. In the provinces of Kunduz, Paktika, Kabul and Nangarhar, the situation is significantly better than on average in the country with sufficient access ranging from 93 to 62 percent. For Kuchi livestock owners, the difference between access and sufficient access was particularly big: whereas 65 percent did have access to animal feed concentrate, for only 7 percent this was sufficient. Vaccination of livestock is critical for the health and survival of the animals. Households that do not vaccinate their livestock run the risk of losing much of the return to their investment, if not losing all the animals in their possession. Current levels of full vaccination are low, running from 15 percent for sheep and between 12 and 14 percent for goats, cattle, camels and oxen and yaks, to below 10-percent levels for poultry horses and donkeys Figure 6.8 . Additional proportions of households have part of their animals vaccinated against diseases, particularly goats and sheep. There is a large variation in the levels of full vaccination of livestock across provinces. Jawzjan and Faryab provinces are consistently scoring best on full vaccination of cattle, goats, sheep and chickens. Figure 6.8: Livestock-owning households with fully-vaccinated livestock, by type of livestock in percentages Around 20 percent of households with livestock obtained medicines for livestock or sought veterinary help or information in the year before the survey. However, this percentage ranged from over 50 percent in Jawzjan, Paktya, Bamyan and Faryab to negligible levels in the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Nimroz, and in Nooristan. The large majority of livestock-owning households that did seek assistance, referred to private veterinary services 79 percent, another 13 percent to government veterinary services and small proportions to veterinary field unit and NGO services together 7 percent. 15.0 12.8 14.2 14.1 12.4 9.3 8.7 6.3 3.8 12.4 10.0 5.9 4.6 4.5 5.5 3.8 4.0 1.9 5 10 15 20 25 30 Sheep Goats Camels Cattle Oxen, yaks Chickens Horses Other birds Donkeys P er ce n tag e All vaccinated Some vaccinated 106 Those households that did not seek assistance did not do so because they considered it not necessary 15 percent or had too few animals 23 percent. Major obstacles for not seeking assistance were lack of knowledge of how or where to obtain the services 21 percent, reluctance to offer services by the provider 17 percent, distance 15 percent and costs 7 percent. 107 7 POVERTY Summary : The analysis of ALCS 2013-14 indicates that poverty has increased over time, with about 39 percent of population living below the national poverty line. On average per capita consumption declined between 2011-12 and 2013-14 with consumption of the poorer population declining faster. Per capita consumption of the bottom two quintiles decreased at a faster rate than the top two quintiles suggesting a possible increase in inequality. In Afghanistan, the period between 2011-12 and 2013-14 is characterised by a substantial slowdown in economic growth fuelled by persistent uncertainty surrounding political and security transition, increased levels of conflict and downturn in aid. The slowdown in economic growth coupled with decrease in aid is reflected in changes in la bour market outcomes. Since NRVA 2007-08 and ALCS 2013-14, the unemployment rate has increased from 14 to 22 percent. As labour endowment is one of the most critical assets for households, changes in labour market outcomes have had a significant impact on poverty. Along with changes in labour market outcomes, negative shocks and an increased level of conflict during this period have played a major role in driving up poverty. Overall, the characteristics of poor have remained relatively stable over time and with a general upward trend in poverty rate across different characteristics. The profile of the poor reveals that households with certain characteristics, such as households with higher number of younger children, households relying on child labour, households with an illiterate head and a head employed in informal labour arrangements – particularly in agriculture or construction sectors – are more vulnerable to poverty than others.

7.1 Introduction