KABUL (SW) – The results of Salam Watandar’s interviews with up to 40 women farmers in 14 provinces of Afghanistan, show that none of them benefited from the support and awareness programs for agriculture and livestock in the country.
These women say that they tend to farming and raising livestock alongside the men of the family in a traditional manner, but are neglected in opportunities. The women farmers say that despite the fact that they suffer a lot while working, but their hardships are never appreciated nor receiving a satisfactory income.
Among the women interviewed for this report, 38 are farmers and 2 are busy with livestock, but none of them are satisfied with their working conditions.
Somaya, a Badghis resident, plow the agricultural lands, sow seeds and weed the crops under the heat of the summer sun in order to provide for their family’s food needs, complains about the lack of support programs for women farmers. “It has been almost five years that I have been working on this land, agricultural land, plowing by myself, doing farming, whatever I can get, I eat with my family, I have never been supported, but men are supported a lot, I don’t understand what the reason is. Maybe the reason could be that we are women.”
Similarly, in the center of Bamyan, 25-year-old Zakia, supports her father in farming because of having no male siblings, but says that despite her full expertise with farming, she is never supported. Zakia added: “I work as hard as I can, but I don’t get support. We have many problems. In the spring, when we harvest potatoes, they get spoiled because of a disease in the past two years, I went to the agriculture directorate, but they did not pay any attention to the difficulties. The wheat is also getting spoiled, but they are providing no medicine for it.”
Coercion by the family, livelihood for children, prohibition of education and work in the office for women are some of the reasons that compelled the interviewed women to turn to agriculture and livestock.
Munira from Bilcheragh district in Faryab province, who is forced by her family to work in the fields, told Salam Watandar: “We farming ladies are not satisfied with anything in life, because all the work we do, is hard work and beyond our ability, but we are still forced to do it, and if we do not do the work, we will be beaten. If we hire labourers to do the work for us, we do not have the means to pay.”
Some other women also say that they turned to agriculture because of their motherhood and sense of responsibility towards the children. Fatima, a widow who is gardening in Kunduz, says: “I have 8 jeribs of land to grow rice and wheat in Aqtash district and I have a few orchards. We did not ask for any help from the government and the claims that only men can do gardening work are false. Women can also do the same work as men.”
Some of the interviewed women in this report, say that they are engaged in agriculture and livestock farming due to lack of education. Parwin from Yekawlang district of Bamyan, says, “I am not interested in farming, I am forced to do the work. I am interested in embroidery and studying. The products that we get from the land, doesn’t last well for a year for our needs, except by selling our sheep to meet our needs.”
“First of all, I used to go to school, study, and did not work as a gardener, but now there is no school or any other jobs. My father asked me to work with him and I have been working for two years. I work hard. Every day, I make sure the ants and other insects do not harm the trees and I get nightmares about insects spoiling the trees. I hope the schools get reopen and I do not work anymore,” said Nargis, a resident of Jowzjan province.
For delicate women, the hard work of farming without modern tools and equipment is daunting. Masouda from Kapisa, says: “I am sensitive to dust and I sneeze or cough. I get body pain when working on the land, but still continue working from morning 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock in the evening.”
Zarina from Nangarhar province, agrees: “There is a very big problem in terms of health, we have iron deficiency and feel pain on legs, our skin has damaged and we have developed black circles around our eyes. We spend all day under the sun and are not healthy physically or mentally.”
“We do farming for livelihood to sell the crops in the market and buy things of need for our children,” said Dilkhwah, a resident of Badghis.
Meanwhile, experts in agricultural affairs emphasize that women, despite their extensive activities in the agricultural and livestock sector, mostly work without wages and ownership rights.
Foruzan Yosufi, one such expert, said: “It is suggested that the level of public awareness should be raised in this field through projects, improved seeds should be distributed, modern tools must be available, and other groups of 20 to 25 people must be created and trained. A field meeting should be held once a month to raise the level of awareness.”
Another expert, Abdullah Kafeel Behdar, also said: “Women in the agriculture sector can provide healthy food for their families and neighbors themselves. Women can be useful in the development of society through the production and processing of food. We all know that the governments are responsible for providing services to the society and these governments can provide structural support, they should be able to work on productive factors, for example, they should teach women about standard packaging methods, and they should teach women who are farming in the surrounding areas to use the correct process and steps; because they still use the traditional methods.”
Salam Watandar sought to get the response from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of the de-facto government regarding support and awareness programs for women farmers, but after waiting for a month, the ministry failed to respond.
Women’s rights activists consider non-transparency and accountability by government institutions, especially regarding issues related to women, to be a sign of inattention to the rights and needs of this section of the society.
According to the statistics released by the World Bank in 2022, some 47 per cent of the workforce in the agriculture and livestock sectors are women. Meanwhile, according to reports, about 70 per cent of the people of Afghanistan are engaged in agriculture and livestock.
