Farming input Farming and horticulture

100

6.2.3 Farming input

ALCS 2013-14 included a limited battery of questions on expenditures for farming input costs. The costs made most frequently by farmers were costs for obtaining seeds by 71 percent of farmers, fertilisers 61 percent and the rent of tractors or other machines 56 percent. On average, farming households spent 14 thousand Afghanis on farming costs in the year preceding the survey, but 51 percent of them spent 7 thousand Afghanis or less Table 6.5 . Table 6.5: Farming households, by farming costs Expenditure class in Afghanis Percentage No expenditure 4.4 Less than 2,000 10.8 2,000-3,999 16.2 4,000-6,999 17.9 7,000-9,999 12.7 10,000-14,999 12.1 15,000-24,999 11.0 25,000 or more 14.9 Mean costs in thousand Afs. 14.2 Median costs in thousand Afs. 7.0 The highest farming expenses were made for purchasing fertilisers – on average 4.5 thousand Afghanis – followed by costs for seeds and renting machinery – 2.9 and 2.8 thousand Afghanis, respectively. Expenses to obtain irrigation water amounted to 1.3 thousand Afghanis, while on labour and pesticidesherbicides only 600 and 400 Afghanis were spent, on average. Altogether, farming households spent 21.1 billion Afghanis around 365 million USD on farming inputs, 6.7 billion on fertilisers, 4.3 and 4.2 billion on seeds and machinery, respectively, and 1.9 billion on irrigation water Figure 6.6 . Figure 6.6: National annual farming input costs, by type of production input in million Afghanis 6,692 4,302 4,221 1,885 1,020 959 593 1,444 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 Fertilisers Seeds Machine tractor Irrigation water Land rent Labour Pesticides herbicides Other costs M illi o n A fs . 101 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. 33 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