|
Almond production in Afghanistan is ranked by FAO as tenth in the list of almond producing countries of the world, though its domestic production is limited to 2% of the world production. Its production has shown a rising trend in the recent years. Within the country the South–Western and Northern Regions have the maximum area under this crop with Kandahar and Samangan province, accounting for much of its production, followed by the provinces of Uruzgan, Kunduz, Balkh, Saripul.〔 As of 2012 the cropped area under almond was 13,490 ha with an yield rate of 45,960 hectagrams (One hectagram = 100 grams) per ha recording a total yield of 62,000 tonnes, with conducive climatic conditions for growing variety of almond landraces of hard shell and soft shell varieties. The preferred markets for export of Afghan almonds is to India and Pakistan, with the former preferred because of better profitability. ==Varieties== Almond is a fruit crop classified under two types, the ''Amygdalus communis'' (sweet almonds) and ''Amygdalus amara'' (bitter almonds). Under this broad classification, in Afghanistan the almond varieties grown are under two major class of: The soft-shell almonds, locally known as ''badam-e kaghaz'' with literal meaning of "paper almond" which can be easily broken with hand; hard/medium-shell almonds with the local name of ''badam-e-sangi'' which literally means stone almond; and these have many sub types and multiple varieties such as ''Sattarbai'' which is of the soft-shell class. Sattarbai has other varieties such as ''Sattarbai Sufi'', ''SattarbaiGuldar'' and ''SattarbaiMamakhail.'' A study indicates that there are 68 to 99 Almond genotypes in the country with varying local names.〔 To enhance production of almonds under the "Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East and West project" (IDEA-NEW), (supported by Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA), a Non-Government organization set up in 1997 33,000 almond saplings of the almond varieties called the ''Satar Baye'', ''Qambari'', ''Qahar Baye'' and ''Zareer Baye'' were planted in a area in the northern area of the country to benefit 100 farmers. This has proved to be generally successful in most of the areas surveyed with a farmer saying: "...I am grateful to IDEA-NEW for establishing one big almond orchard for me and providing me with technical assistance on the methods of gardening, like the layout and design of orchard with proper system of irrigation." Almond farmers in the province of Uruzgan who have learnt the art of growing almonds in recent time grow the crop on commercial lines and the almond they grow is mostly of the bitter variety which is mixed with the commercially acceptable variety. Roots of Peace, a humanitarian organization working in Afghanistan, introduced bee farms along with almond trees to enhance almond yield, though this was initially not acceptable to the local farmers as they believed that bees would harm the plants. Once introduced the experiment has proved a success with the yield per tree recording an increase of about 40%. ==Production and consumption== Almond production was recorded at 62,000 metric tons during 2012 which was a 2% increase over the 2011 figure of 60,610 metric tons. Major production was in the provinces of Samangan, Baghlan, Tahar and Parwan, with Samangan recording the highest yield. Most of the almonds produced is consumed within the country with only 3% quantity exported. They are marketed both in-shell and shelled form.〔 Its export variety is as competitive as the Californian almond and cheaper than the variety marketed by Spain, and therefore exports have a price advantage for export to Central and South Asia.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Almond production in Afghanistan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|