Kunduz province headed for bumper cotton crop

KUNDUZ CITY: Afghan farmers have returned to cotton cultivation, sowing the crop over 6,000 hectares of land in the northern Kunduz province after decades of strife.

Mohammad Ibrahim Turkman, director of the provincial agriculture and livestock department, said on Thursday Kunduz was headed for a bumper cotton crop this year after a sharp and persistent decline in its cultivation over the years.

In an exclusive chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, Turkman recalled the province used to produce around 85,000 tons of cotton annually before the breakout of the war, which saw a precipitous fall in the crop yield.

Most of the cotton was then exported to European countries, specially the United Kingdom, the biggest market for the Afghan crop, he pointed out without quantifying the foreign exchange the government earned from foreign sales.

Six varieties of improved cottonseeds, purchased from a French company, have been sown over 2,600 hectares of land in the province this year, boosting hopes for a yield of 10,000 tons this year.

A large number of Kunduz growers continued to sow an American type of cottonseed that was highly valued in international market, explained the director, who believed results of French varieties in terms of quality and quantity would be known after a couple of years.

Grower Ghulam Haider (50), hailing from Chahar Darra district of the province, has sown five acres of his land with cotton. "We are ready to cultivate the crop every year to contribute to the tattered Afghan economy if the government and NGOs extend us assistance in this regard."

The director also cited the absence of agricultural credit and lack of farm machinery and inputs as major handicaps for the growers. He was confident that cotton yield would go up to a large extent if the requisite facilities were made available to the farmers.