SHEBERGHAN (SW) – This year, 70% of crops in Jawzjan have been lost due to lack of water, said local farmers.
Jawzjan is one of the provinces in the north of the country, where most of its residents make a living through agriculture and animal husbandry. However, lack of water, lack of monsoon rains, successive droughts, plant pests and hot weather are some of the challenges that have severely affected the farmers of Jawzjani this year.
A number of farmers in Jawzjan say that consecutive droughts on the one hand and the lack of attention of officials and aid agencies on the other hand have multiplied their problems.
Fazl Mohammad, one of the farmers in Jawzjan, says that this year he planted 25 acres of wheat, but due to lack of water and lack of monsoon rains, his fields have been destroyed, which has severely affected him. He added: “This year, all my wheat was burnt, I still hope God will help. For now, we are stuck. I still can’t spend, I’m in debt. We used the money, if there is any government, it should take care of everyone, help me too. It can be done through the United Nations, or through the government. This year, I spent 200,000 to 250,000 afghanis, and only up to 20,000 to 30,000 afghanis could be obtained, which is not even the worker’s money.”
According to Fazl Mohammad, aid institutions should help in the distribution of modified seeds and chemical fertilizers as the aid does not reach the real beneficiaries.
The information collected from 10 districts of Jawzjan shows that farmers in these districts cannot recover their expenses this year.
Abdul Qayyum, another farmer in Jawzjan, said that the agricultural situation worsens every year due to droughts, and this issue always affects farmers. He, who has planted 12 acres of wheat, expressed concern about the current situation and said that this year’s wheat harvest is zero and many farmers have turned their fields into pastures.
This farmer added: “In other years it was a little good, but this year there is nothing, it has remained dry. It’s a drought, you see the wheat has dried up. Afghanistan is agricultural country. If there is no agriculture, there will be hunger in Afghanistan.”
At the same time, the officials in the department of agriculture, irrigation and livestock of Jawzjan acnkwledge that due to lack of monsoon rains and drought, the farmers of this province have suffered greatly. According to them, this year 70% of the fields have been destroyed in this province, which is a shocking situation.
Ebadullah Ansar, the head of agriculture, irrigation and livestock in Jawzjan, said that 186 thousand hectares of land in this province can be irrigated, and 139 thousand hectares of it are cultivated. But this year, due to the drought, only 60,000 hectares of land has been irrigated, and 28,000 hectares of land have been irrigated.
He addex: “I saw and checked the area closely. Our impression is that almost 70% of people’s crops have been lost and people have suffered.”
On the other hand, a number of economic experts call the agricultural situation in some provinces fragile and say that the Ministry of Agriculture should take effective solutions and programs to overcome this problem. According to them, one of the solutions is the modernization of agriculture, which can largely prevent farmers from suffering.
It should be mentioned that wheat, barley, corn, cotton and sesame are among the most important agricultural products of Jawzjan, but this year, due to lack of water, more than two thirds of the fields have been destroyed.
ENDS
