GARDEZ (SW) – A number of gardeners in Paktia who have planted walnuts in their gardens say that they are not familiar with the standard methods of harvesting and this problem has caused the yield of their gardens to decrease.
Abdul Rashid, a gardener in Laja Mangal district of Paktia, says that he has only 15 trees in his garden, and he earns 50,000 Afghanis annually from the sale of its products. Abdul Rashid added: “All the people collect walnuts in a non-standard way, and this damages the tree, because of this, the yield of these villages decreases every year. People have not been informed about this.”
This gardener explained that in their area, the walnut varieties are good, and at the time of harvest, one kilogram of it is sold for 120 to 150 Afghanis.
Mohammad, another gardener in the province, also says that the gardeners shake the trees with using sticks while harvesting the walnut fruits, which damages the trees and its fruit. “If you hit the branches of the tree with sticks, it will definitely break. And, if you hit the branches, the twigs will break. No one gave us the tools to collect the fruit properly.”
The gardeners want the Directorate of the Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Paktia to provide the basis for learning the standard methods of harvesting and to distribute the tools for harvesting.
On the other hand, the merchants in Paktia say that the price of walnuts in the markets of this province has decreased compared to last year.
Ali Ahmad, a local merchant, says: “This year, the prices are low because there is no many buyers. We used to sell 1,000 kilograms of it for 2,000 or 2500 Afghanis. But we don’t sell it anywhere above 1,500 Afghanis now.”
Paktia’s Directorate of Agriculture officials say that due to the lack of equipment and tools for collecting the walnuts, this product is still harvested in a traditional way.
Asef Al-Rahman, the general director of forests and natural resources at the directorate, says that about 9,000 hectares of land in this province are dedicated to walnut trees, from which 50,000 kilograms of walnuts are obtained annually.
“Our plans for the promotion of production continues, and since 2019, we have built 360 more orchids in all districts, and each of them we have planted 3000 seedlings. Some of these seedlings have been transferred to the field.”
However, horticulture experts say that harvesting walnuts in a non-standard way will reduce the yield of this fruit in the long run.
Saifullah Mangal, a professor at Paktia University’s Faculty of Agriculture, says that the ‘government’ should teach farmers the standard methods of harvesting agricultural products, especially walnuts.
He said: “When the fruit is hit on a stick, stone or other tools, or collected in other non-standard ways, it causes a lot of damage to the tree. The branches of the trees break, and when the branches are broken, the yield is reduced, and the fruits that are ripe fall down.”
Walnut is one of the most important dry fruits in Paktia, which is planted on the slopes of the mountains in the 12-districts of the province in a non-standard way. Until now, no action has been taken to standardize the walnut gardens by the Directorate of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Paktia.
