An Area-Based Approach to Development

A Systems Approach

Atamhamed, a farmer from Balkh province in northern Afghanistan, stands in a young orchard of almond and apricot trees. He is looking forward to his first harvest of fruit from trees planted just a few months ago.

However, creating a livelihood and a local economy from crops depends on many factors outside the farmer’s control. Trees need water and fertilizer to grow, and fertilizer. When the harvest is ready, it needs to be transported safely to market, where it can reach buyers. When any part of this system does not work properly, farmers lose money.

UNDP’s area-based approach creates change not in isolated pockets, but across an entire local system. By supporting farmers with new livelihoods, improving irrigation that sustains their crops, repairing the roads they depend on, building markets where they can sell, and strengthening the businesses that buy their products, UNDP is helping rebuild a functioning rural economy in Balkh.

A Rapid Shift After the Opium Ban

The story begins with the Farmers.

In April 2022, poppy cultivation was banned and the trading of opium products: an abrupt change in a region where poppy had long been the most reliable source of income. Poppy could grow in poor soil, required little water, and earned farmers much more than crops like cotton or wheat. Following the ban, incomes collapsed almost overnight.

Farmers in Balkh adapted quickly, shifting to fruits, vegetables, and livestock. But switching crops is not enough without broader support.

UNDP and Japan’s Support: A Holistic Approach

UNDP's PALPA project, supported by the Government of Japan, launched in 2025, provides farmers with the tools they need to rebuild their livelihoods: access to loans, agricultural inputs, livestock, fish ponds, drip irrigation systems, and skills training. The programme also connects farmers to markets through trade fairs and business partnerships.

This work builds on UNDP’s long-standing commitment to alternative livelihoods in the region. Since 2016, the Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development (CBARD) project, and now UNDP’s latest project, PALPA (under the ABADEI portfolio), have used an area-based, ecosystem approach: improving infrastructure, strengthening essential services, supporting businesses, and empowering farmers simultaneously.

At the heart of this method is community-led planning, ensuring local people shape the solutions that affect their lives. This approach not only provides alternatives to poppy cultivation; it also strengthens community resilience and long-term economic development.

New Opportunities for Farmers

For farmers like Atamhamed, support has been transformative. With training, saplings, and tools, he is now tending his own orchard after years of working on others’ land. Between harvests, he intercrops beans for additional income.

Another farmer, Dardullah, proudly shows his fields of pumpkins, tomatoes, almonds, and peaches, crops he can finally bring to market reliably.

Farmers supported under PALPA expect their first major harvests by May and June, and newly built fishponds will soon be stocked as the weather warms.

Fixing Water Systems, Protecting a Precious Resource

Water has long been wasted in traditional irrigation systems damaged by time and floods. With support from Japan, UNDP restored canals and added culverts so water could flow under roads without loss.

One major intervention, the Zhangora canal in Charbolak district, serves 1,200 households. Previously, weakened walls, rodent damage, and silt buildup meant huge water losses. UNDP, again supported by Japan, rehabilitated 1.3 kilometres of the canal, repairing the lining, improving spillways, and clearing debris. The project also generated 8,791 labor days for 61 workers.

Now, nearly all the water reaches the fields providing reliable irrigation water for 1,280 hectares of agricultural land, an essential achievement in a drought-prone region.

The Road that Changed Everything

Impact at scale depends on infrastructure. The Charsang dirt road, also in Balkh district, once connected five villages to the main market, but it was barely usable. The surface became mud in winter, or thick dust in summer, with no drainage. Rainfall could strand entire communities. Farmers could not move their produce; traders could not reach villages.

Jamil, a local farmer, recalls his truck getting stuck regularly. “By the time I reached the market—if I reached it at all—some of my fruit had spoiled,” he says.

Using local labour, UNDP rebuilt the entire seven-kilometre road, repairing 15 culverts and improving irrigation channels. The road enables safe and timely transport of crops from 800 hectares of farmland. Through cash for work the project generated 2,459 labor days and 27 villagers earned income while rebuilding their own community.

Today, the road is paved, wider, and reliable year round. Jamil now reaches the market in two hours instead of half a day—and his apricots arrive fresh.