Opium production Agricultural production

The agricultural sector 49 Figure 5.5 Percentage of households cultivating opium, by province Table 5.9 Households, by residence, and by livestock-owning status, type of livestock in percentages; also stating mean and median number of livestock Livestock-owning status, number of livestock Residence Urban Rural Kuchi National No livestock 82 21 6 32 Any livestock, of whom have 18 79 94 68 Major livestock 48 94 99 92 Poultry 78 77 60 76 Major livestock and poultry 26 71 59 68 Mean number of livestock 7 14 67 18 Median number of livestock 4 10 45 10 Total 100 100 100 100 Mean number of livestock 1 11 63 12 Median number of livestock 7 43 6 The agricultural sector 50

5.4 Agricultural inputs

5.4.1 Traction for cultivating land

The main source of land traction power reported by Afghan households is animals 52 percent, followed by mechanical and manual sources 39 and 8 percent, respectively. In general, the use of traction power is similar among urban, rural and Kuchi households, with a slight dominance of mechanical traction by urban households and animal plowing for Kuchi households see Table 5.10. In comparison to the results of NRVA 2005, there seems to be slight increase in using land traction power by mechanical means, while there was a similar reduction of in usage of manual cultivation. Table 5.10 Use of traction power, by type of power used, and by residence in percentages Residence Manual cultivation Animal ploughing Mechanical tractor All types Urban 9 44 47 100 Rural 8 52 39 100 Kuchi 2 40 39 100 National 8 52 39 100 NRVA 2005 national 12 54 35 100 Nooristan has the highest proportion of manual cultivation 75 percent. Small and sloping plots in this mountainous province restrict mechanization and make it difficult to use animals for traction. Manual cultivation also prevails in Wardak, Parwan, Logar and Laghman, each with 24 percent or more households using mainly this. It is almost absent in Urozgan, Nimroz, Bamyan, Kunduz and Zabul. The provinces with the highest use of mechanical cultivation are Nimroz, Helmand, Khost, Zabul and Farah each reporting more than 90 percent mechanical traction, while it is not at all applied by the households surveyed in Bamyan, Daykundi, Panjsher, Sar-E-Pul, Ghor and Nooristan, and only applied to a very limited extent in the provinces of Badakshan, Kapisa, Badghis, Parwan, Faryab and Takhar.

5.4.2 Use of fertilizers and pesticides

Nearly two thirds 62 percent of households who reported cultivation in the last summer season mainly rural households used Di-Ammonium Phosphate DAP andor Urea on their agriculture land see Table 5.11. For the majority of the DAP users the amount used was sufficient to meet all fertilizer needs. Table 5.11 Households cultivating in last summer season, by residence, and by DAPUrea use, level of DAPUrea need fulillment in percentages Use of fertiliser, level of fertiliser need fulfillment Residence Urban Rural Kuchi National No fertiliser used 62 37 47 38 Fertiliser used, of which fulfilled 38 63 53 62 Less than a quarter of needs 2 3 2 3 Around one quarter of needs 4 6 10 6 Around half of needs 15 13 20 14 Around two thirds of needs 14 18 16 18 All needs 65 60 53 60 Total 100 100 100 100