GARDEZ (SW) – Modern and sustainable methods of gardening have been promoted in Paktia, says officials.
Officials at the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Paktia say that for the first time, efforts have been started to create new dense gardens in order to develop horticulture and promote dense gardens in this province.
The officials of this department said that due to the good yield and income obtained from dense gardens, the interest of gardeners to create such gardens has increased.
Sangar Mal, the general director of horticulture at the department of agriculture, irrigation and livestock of Paktia, in an interview with Salam Watandar, said that all the seedlings of dense gardens are checked by a board and the seedlings are not given to gardeners without the approval of this board.
According to him, the creation of dense gardens in Paktia has had good results, and this directorate has built several gardens in more than 23.5 acres of land in coordination with institutions such as “TLO” and “Rotafist” this year. “We want to create dense gardens every year in coordination with institutions,” he added. “We should increase the number of dense gardens in Paktia and promote their creation.”
A number of gardeners in Paktia, also welcoming this action, consider the construction of such gardens beneficial in the growth of their horticultural field and say that by creating dense gardens, they can plant many seedlings in a small land and get a lot of profit from it.
Ehsan, one of the gardeners in the city of Gardiz, the center of Paktia, said that in the spring of last year, for the first time, he built a dense garden on an acre of land. According to him, in dense gardens, saplings are planted close to each other, a base is created for each sapling train, and iron wires are installed on top of each base.
Ehsan added that with the help of the department of agriculture and a number of institutions, he was trained in the field of garden protection and received medicine to prevent tree diseases. He also said that in dense gardens, trees bear fruit earlier and do not need much pruning like other trees.
“Last year, when I planted the saplings, it blossomed. These trees bear fruit early and give a very good crop, which is of great benefit to gardeners. In general, these trees bear fruit in two years. I have planted 600 trees in one acre of land; While in other gardens, 85 trees are planted in the same amount of land.”
Masoom Khan, one of the growers of dense garden seedlings in Gardiz, says that in the past, dense garden seedlings were imported from Turkey with the help of a number of organizations at a price of 10 to 12 dollars, most of which were not licensed. He, who himself grows seedlings in one of the dense gardens, talked about the good and positive result of creating such gardens. According to Masoom Khan, he is currently growing apple and pear seedlings in his garden and other gardeners are also satisfied with the use of these seedlings.
“We have apple and peach seedlings that we transplant and then offer to people. We used to sell these seedlings at the price of 150 to 160 afghanis and this year we even sold them at the price of 100 to 120 afghanis.”
He added that gardeners, when building dense gardens, should pay attention to the point of creating a foundation and installing wire, because dense gardens without foundations and wiring do not give good results.
Meanwhile, agricultural experts also say that by creating dense gardens, there will be positive developments in the field of horticulture and the economy of gardeners.
Habibullah, an expert in agriculture, who has been gardening in Paktia for the past few years, says that creating dense gardens has more benefits than other gardens because it is beneficial to the gardeners and such gardens are more resistant to viruses and diseases than other gardens. According to him, the number of trees planted in a dense garden is different according to the fruit and the result obtained from it.
Habibullah advises gardeners to plant 440 to 660 apple and pear trees per acre of land and only 260 plum and peach seedlings in the same amount of land. “There is a mother plant here, branches from it are sold to members of the union or other planters for one to two afghanis, who graft them to their seedlings,” he says.
Paktia is one of the provinces where most of its residents are engaged in gardening, and according to agricultural affairs experts, positive changes will occur in the life of gardeners in this province with the popularization of dense gardens.
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