URUZGAN (SW) – A number of gardeners in Uruzgan say that half of the almond orchards have been destroyed due to drought in this province.
These gardeners add that compared to last year, the almond’s products have decreased and has caused them financial loss. They ask the authorities to help and support them.
Gul-Mohammad, one of the gardeners in Uruzgan, says: “There has been drought and shortage of almond products this year. Fifty percent of wells have dried up.”
“It is all due to lack of water. We want the officials to provide us facilities”, said Hamidullah, another gardener in Uruzgan.
Meanwhile, a number of almond sellers say that due to a shortage of this product this year, they have suffered problems in their business.
Mohammad Ewaz, one of the almond sellers says: “The prices are good, compared to the last year, the price has increased by 100 to 200 Afghanis because there are no almonds in the market.”
Officials of the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Uruzgan, confirming the problems of gardeners say that they will do more of efforts to solve gardeners’ problems.
Abdulmanan Farooqi, the spokesperson of this department, says: “Gardeners in Uruzgan have problems; we have taken care of their problems. We have always helped them with plant health, but gardens still are facing desiccation, and the reason is that There has been a drought in Uruzgan for the past few years; and if they don’t get water, they will dry up. We have also requested the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and they have promised that they will fully cooperate with gardeners in the irrigation system.”
According to the information of Uruzgan’s Department of Agriculture, 5,990 hectares of land in this province have been allocated to almond orchards, and 23,960 tons of almonds have been harvested from this amount of land this year.
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