Afghanistan and FAOPartnering for food security through gender equality

Afghan agriculture has the potential for long-term sustained growth and for covering a significant degree of domestic food production as well as producing for export. In transitioning from emergency and rehabilitation support to agricultural development, the agriculture sector can play an important role in generating employment and pro-poor growth.

CONTACT

Tomio Shichiri

FAO Representative in AfghanistanMinistry of Agriculture, Irrigation and LivestockOpposite Kabul UniversityKabul, AfghanistanTel.: +93 20 251 0427 or 29 ext 101 or 102E-mail: FAO-AF@fao.org and FAOAF-REP@fao.org

The FAO programme in Afghanistan is our largest programme in the Asia Pacific region and one of the largest in the world. The total delivery for 2014 was US$28.1 million, out of which US$25.2 million was for development projects and US$2.9 million was for emergency projects.

The year 2014 was a critical one for Afghanistan, as the country was engaged in a three-fold transition: a political transition with the impending presidential and provincial electoral process; a military and security transition with the NATO-led international military force handing over its security remit to the Afghan military and police force; and an economic transition defined by the Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework, whereby US$16 billion development assistance has been committed for the next four years in the political, military, and socio-economic spheres.

Traditionally, numerous and diverse FAO projects have been implemented in Afghanistan, ranging from rehabilitating hundreds of irrigation canals, to adopting a seed policy, introducing small-scale integrated dairy schemes, and supporting and improving food security. FAO’s intervention in Afghanistan is currently focused on the further rehabilitation and development of all aspects of the agricultural sector.

Matching FAO’s expertise to Afghanistan’s development priorities Current interventions are guided by FAO’s Country Programming Framework (CPF) 2012-2015 for Afghanistan, developed jointly with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to reflect the country’s trend towards strengthened agricultural and rural development and food security. Emphasizing FAO’s role as a facilitator and knowledge partner, it rests on six priority areas:

■ Support to fostering agricultural productive capacity by enhancing the capacity of smallholder farmers and herders to achieve higher productivity and competitiveness in agriculture and livestock production

■ Support to better water resource and irrigation development and management, focusing on adopting and implementing a holistic land and irrigation strategy, and the enhanced capacity to develop and manage water resources

■ Support to the formulation and implementation of effective agricultural policies and institutional capacity building that promotes enhanced national capacity (at central and decentralized level) in programming and implementation management in agriculture and rural development

■ Support to better natural resource management by improving sustainable environment management, including policy-making capacities and information management

■ Support to food and nutrition security and enhanced institutional capacity to address issues regarding food safety and quality

■ Support to capacity development in emergency management by strengthening the country’s capacity for emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction

The CPF defines priorities which are based on the National Priority Programmes (NPPs) and is fully aligned with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2010-2013 and the Integrated Strategic Framework (ISF). The CPF reflects relevant national development plans and strategies in the field of agriculture and related sectors as well as FAO’s Strategic Objectives and regional priorities.

A new CPF for 2015-2019 is presently under development and a new UNDAF for the 2015-2019 has been developed, awaiting endorsement of the newly formed government.

Strengthening the role of women in agriculture This FAO project which focuses on strengthening women’s role in agriculture started in 2011 with a total budget of over US$2 million. In 2014, women technology transfer centres were established in the Western, Northern and Central regions in the provinces of Hirat, Badakhshan and Kabul, respectively. They support access to and demonstrations of relevant technologies on kitchen gardening, food processing, drip irrigation, green houses and compost bin micro-gardening. In total, 6 000 beneficiaries in 12 provinces received training.

Backyard poultry, an alternative way to food securityFAO livestock activities in Afghanistan have successfully introduced innovative techniques for efficient backyard poultry production. In the last year, FAO has trained

3 000 women in backyard poultry production and 44 village group leaders in Improved Backyard Poultry Management. Each beneficiary received 15 pullets, 75 kg feed, 2 m2 wire mesh, a drinker and a feeder. This assistance is enabling families to produce eggs for home consumption and

enhance their protein intake, while surplus production can be sold in the local market or bartered.

Currently, more than 2 600 women and 60 village group leaders are being trained through Female Farmer Field Schools (FFFS) on topics related to family poultry farming. During a one year period, more than 4.5 million eggs have been collected and sold.

Backyard poultry is an excellent way to enhance the availability of and access to micronutrients and protein-rich foods. Furthermore, it is an ideal activity for women as livestock- and poultry-keeping are done traditionally by female members of the household.

“Empowering women famers is key to

developing stable rural livelihoods and

contributes to ensuring food security.”

José Graziano da Silva,FAO Director-General

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Promoting integrated pest management (IPM) techniquesOver the past four years, a US$7.7 million FAO project trained 116 plant protection and extension officers to develop their knowledge and expertise in integrated pest management (IPM) techniques. A set of environmentally friendly technologies and tools have been developed and tested through a series of field based action research to address the key pest problems and improve the productivity of wheat, rice, melon, potato and fruit crops.

Farmer Field School (FFS) methodologies have been customized and introduced to the communities to provide them with hands-on opportunity to learn how to improve the productivity of their crops, while addressing the pest problems in a more sustainable manner. From 2011 to 2014, 442 FFSs have been conducted on wheat, melon, potato and rice and 11 050 farm households have been trained in 14 provinces of Afghanistan.

As a result of FFS training, crop yields in the FFS areas have increased by 39 percent in wheat, 40 percent in rice, 77 percent in melon and 28 percent in potato, making a significant contribution to national food production. Average net return, however, has increased at a much higher level, from 56 percent in melon to 100 percent in wheat, providing a sustainable opportunity to increase farmers’ income from agriculture. Encouraged by the results above, a new five-year strategic plan has been developed to institutionalize IPM as a standard approach to crop production and protection.