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In Afghanistan ...
ChangeMaker in
association with USAID, Bearing Point and DAI, has completed a
value chain analysis on Tomato subsector. The primary objective
of the study was to develop alternative livelihood for the
farmers engaged in poppy cultivation. The strategy was to
develop alternative value-added agriculture that can
significantly increase the profitability of the farmers.
Afghanistan Brief
This study was commissioned by Bearing Point and DAI,
contractors for the Alternative Livelihood Program – Eastern
Region (ALP-E), a USAID-Afghanistan initiative, which has a
broad goal of developing viable small and medium sized, private
sector enterprises in Afghanistan. ALP-E’s overarching objective
is to “provide an approach designed to strengthen the private
sector’s capacity to address the problem of illicit poppy
cultivation and to promote improved economic opportunities and
diverse regional economic growth. One of five major project
components of the ALP-E is Private Sector Development (PSD),
which is charged with contributing to the development of both
agricultural (with the Agribusiness component) and
non-agricultural sectors. One major effort of the PSD is to
undertake assessments of chosen sub sectors so as to better
target relevant support. The strategy for doing so is to
increase competitiveness, performance, and growth of the private
sector businesses, which is expected to contribute to the growth
and improvement in economic and social conditions. ALP-E intends
to addresses the issue of market imperfections for the selected
products/sectors by identifying and working with service
providers who are currently offering or have potential to offer
commercial services to businesses. ALP-E’s role is to assist the
businesses as well as the service providers in developing their
products and services, by providing technical assistance in
their product and market development.
Nangrahar Province, located in eastern Afghanistan, has a
population of about 1.5 million and an area of 7,195 square
miles. About 80% of the populations are directly dependent on
agriculture for their livelihood. The agriculture production in
the Eastern region is significantly high due to the land being
conducive to agri-ecological environment, availability of both
surface and underground water sources, and access to backward
and forward market linkages. The eastern region produces more
than 250 different varieties of agricultural crops ranging from
vegetables, horticultural products, field crop, spices, etc. The
primary sources of irrigation are springs (chena), canals
(lakhti), and shallow wells (kohee). Studies and
discussions with various key informants have shown that the
Eastern Region (Nangrahar Province) of Afghanistan’s
agricultural sector has both great potential and significant
challenges. The agriculture sector in general is suffering from
multifarious problems such as, lack of adequate supply of
quality inputs, inadequate farming knowledge, rudimentary
farming practices, lack of farm machinery and tools,
insufficient information about markets, poor local capacity to
provide necessary services to improve farmers efficiency and
growth, poor linkage with adaptive research and extension, poor
road system for transporting raw materials and agricultural
products, etc.
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