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Description |
The expected project impact is a sustained increase in farm incomes in the project areas by enabling farmers, agri-processors and traders to engage in profitable production, processing, and marketing industries. The project will achieve this by developing value chains for a number of commodities: fresh fruits, vegetables, edible oils, and honey. The project outcome is that farmers, agri-processors and marketers undertake business in more efficient value chains for selected commodities. This will be reflected by decreased production losses at post-harvest and through improved efficiency of production and agri-processing. The project will promote the establishment of commercial farming operations, processing, quality improvement, and will facilitate linkages to high value markets. The Project will consist of two components: (i) improved agriculture value chains of selected commodites, and (ii) project management. The project will focus on 10 provinces in the Central, North and North-east, and Eastern Regions. |
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Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy |
Afghanistan is a poor rural country and according to the latest National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA), rural households accounted for 80% of the total population and rural poverty accounted for 84% of the poverty nationwide (NRVA 2007/08). The national poverty rate is 36%; however there is significant regional variation with poverty levels exceeding 57% in some provinces. Agriculture is an important sector to Afghanistan as 36% of all households rely on farming with another 6% depending upon farm wages as their main source of income. Following decades of conflict and neglect many agricultural industries have low productivity and much of the market infrastructure and systems are in a serious state of disrepair. This is a major constraint to the successful implementation of initiatives to increase incomes in rural communities.
The Government recognizes that economic growth is key to reducing poverty and that agriculture is an important sector in this process. While the causes of poverty in Afghanistan have yet to be thoroughly studied, there is consensus that poverty is linked to low economic growth and inadequate income-generating opportunities, particularly in rural areas. The Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock's (MAIL) Agriculture Sector Development Master Plan emphasizes that rising farm incomes drive the rural nonfarm sector and that efforts to stimulate its growth without increasing demand for agricultural products will not bring about the targeted results. MAIL prioritizes activities that rapidly stimulate employment and thus increase farm incomes and wage rates. The ministry supports the development of the private sector, a key pillar of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS).
The premise behind this project is that incomes across the rural sector are improved when all elements of the value-added chain are addressed. Consequently, project interventions should not be confined to just on-farm technologies and capacity building, but should also consider reducing constraints elsewhere in the value chain such as post-harvest storage/handling, processing, and marketing. The project will focus on the entire chain rather than a component such as production, and thus will ensure that all the parts required to stimulate and sustain economic development are in place.
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Impact |
Incomes of vegetable farmers (Bamyan, Kabul, Panjsheer provinces) and oilseed producers (Nangahar and Balkh provinces) are improved |
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