During
the civil war, Afghanistan lost its research stations and
the national genebank that held the country's agricultural
heritage. ICARDA, with help from USAID, rebuilt five agricultural
stations in five provinces: Kabul, Baghlan, Kunduz, Takhar,
and Nangarhar. The stations develop and evaluate new crop
genotypes for distribution throughout the region and farmers
visit the stations to select lines suitable for their fields.
In 2003, experimental plots of wheat, barley, chickpea, lentils,
faba bean, tomato, onion, and pepper were harvested for the
first time in many years. The stations also serve as centers
for small business development, market creation, crop improvement,
technology transfer, and training for farmers. Three seed
quality testing laboratories in Kabul, Herat, and Nangarhar
and several satellite testing stations in Kunduz, Mazar, and
Baghlan were also established to ensure that marketed seeds
are of superior quality. Meteorology stations were installed
in six provinces and Ministry and Meteorology Department staff
were trained.
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| Badam
Bagh seed testing station, near Kabul—before (left)
and after refurbishing. |
Several international nurseries were planted for testing yield,
drought and cold tolerance, and disease resistance in a variety
of crops. This international nursery program will identify
adapted germplasm for Afghanistan's varied agroecological
zones. A variety maintenance program has been initiated in
Darul Aman, Baghlan, Kunduz, and Taloqan to maintain varietal
purity and initiate seed multiplication of improved varieties.
ICARDA produced 171,771 fruit saplings and 13,134 non-fruit
saplings in four research stations for distributing to farmers
in the area. |
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