Strategies for High Value Agriculture Based Livelihood: Application of Participatory Rural Appraisal Approach in Afghanistan

Abstract

The rest of the world knows Afghanistan for civil war, terrorism and opium cultivation but for the government and the common people the real big and important issues are development, peace and prosperity. From the conditions under which Afghanistan finds it self at present, to take the country on the paths of development, is a very difficult task, if not impossible. Due to its geographical conditions, peoples and varied agro-climate, Afghanistan is full of strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats, so far as agricultural development is concerned. While it is true, that a country under civil war for such a long period has a severely damaged infrastructure that is necessary for agricultural development, especially the agricultural research, extension and educational infrastructure in a very poor shape and in need of immediate remedial measure to improve their capacity for taking up the challenges of a globalize economy in the twenty first century. The strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of Afghanistan agriculture, the skill and capacity available with the farmers of this country, new experiences, innovations, success stories and its pre-war brand equity in the external markets could become the starting point for giving a new direction to Afghanistan agriculture in this globalize 21st century economy. The details of various issues identified by the PRA teams and some success stories observed in the different villages/districts have been presented in the findings. The information has been analyzed for different provinces and for different micro-situations district-wise for arriving at the strategies to deal with these issues and the points of interventions. On the basis of information generated and the analysis made the following strategy is being proposed for its up-scaling in Afghanistan for peace, prosperity and sustainable high value agriculture based livelihood. 1. Conducting a PRA to Assess Local Conditions and Potential Markets 2. Organizing Producers into Farmer Interest Groups and Farmer Associations 3. Assessing the Market Demand for Specific High Value (HV) crops 4. Training FIG members to Produce and Handle HVCs 5. Monitoring the Production and Post-Harvest Handling of HVCs

Keywords: PRA, high value crops, agricultural production systems

JEL Classification: Q10, Q16, Q18, Q19, Q32