Afghanistan is a country of about 22 million people. Agriculture is the largest and most important sector of the economy employing 85% of the population.

Twenty three years of war coupled with the worst drought for three years have devastated Afghanistan's food-production capabilities and depleted critical seed stocks, leaving the nation heavily dependent upon food aid from international donors.

The relative peace slowly returning to Afghanistan is attracting the attention of the donor community to rebuild the nations devastated agriculture. From the outset the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) was quick to respond to the opportunities and challenges of building Afghanistan's agriculture in partnership with international and national organizations through financial support of the donor community.

Stakeholders Meeting in Tashkent

From 20-21 January 2002, ICARDA convened a Stakeholders Meeting on Restoring Food Security and Rebuilding the Agricultural Sector of Afghanistan in Tashkent, Uzbekistan through financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). About 74 participants representing 34 different organizations, including international agricultural research centers, development agencies, NGOs, universities, private sector and donors, together with Afghan agricultural experts, attended the meeting. At the end of the meeting the creation of a global consortium of research institutes, relief and development organizations, universities, and aid agencies was announced to undertake a multi-million dollar effort to rebuild Afghanistan's agriculture. The partnership called the Future Harvest Consortium to Rebuild Agriculture in Afghanistan and is led by ICARDA. The Consortium will take a holistic approach to rebuild Afghanistan's agriculture focusing, but not limited to, crop improvement and seed supply (both agricultural and horticultural); livestock, feed and rangelands; natural resource management (soils, water) including institutional strengthening and human resource development.

Relief Seed Supply

In April about 3,500 tonnes of wheat seed, Inqilab 91 and MH 97, adapted to Afghanistan condition, was delivered from Pakistan for spring planting by the Future Harvest Consortium. The seed was distributed through a network of NGOs and FAO in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to 65,000 farmers. Early crop establishment was satisfactory and the crops are thriving well in the field to produce the next harvest. Some of the harvest can be used as source seed for the next cycle of seed multiplication and distribution within the country to replenish the seed stocks. This will substantially reduce the seed cost and save the money required for trucking seed from outside.

The Consortium is also organizing the procurement and delivery of 6,000 tonnes of high quality wheat seed for autumn planting later in the year to achieve food security.

Moreover, the elite seed produced at ICARDA will be supplied for further multiplication and distribution to farmers in Afghanistan. About 20 tonnes of large number of released varieties and/or promising lines of wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and vetch, some of which are of Afghanistan origin and with better adaptation to the agroecological zones of the country, are included in the multiplication.

Code of Conduct Meeting in Kabul

The Stakeholders meeting in Tashkent identified a need to develop a Code of Conduct for all interventions in the seed sector, including standards for import of seed and planting material into Afghanistan.

With financial support from USAID, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, in cooperation with ICARDA and FAO, organized a Code of Conduct meeting in Kabul from 21-23 May 2002. About 80 participants representing the Ministry of Agriculture, CGIAR Centers, USAID, IFDC, FAO, US universities, NGOs attended the meeting. The workshop prepared a set of guidelines for seed production, distribution and import of seed and planting materials of field crops and quarantine.

Institutional Strengthening

Training is a key for institutional strengthening and sustainable development of the national seed industry. ICARDA in cooperation with the Afghanistan Ministry of Agriculture will organize the first in-country course on Seed Quality Control and Field Inspection in July 2002. Moreover, more than 20 participants will be received at ICARDA headquarter for Seed Quality (seed testing and seed health including enterprise development) course in September 2002.

As part of the reconstruction program of the seed sector, need assessments are carried out in Afghanistan. Equipment for central and satellite seed testing laboratories including three for seed health is being ordered and ready for shipment. In addition, low cost small cleaning machines are under fabrication in Syria for dispatch to Afghanistan to be used for cleaning seed for next planting season. For more details on FHCRAA visit the website at http://www.futureharvest.org or http://www.icarda.org or contact: A.J.G. van Gastel, Head of Seed Unit, ICARDA, P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria; Fax: ++963-21-2213490, 2225105, 2551860; E-mail: A.Vangastel@cgiar.org