IsDB and FAO Join Hands to Rehabilitate Irrigation Systems and Improve Rural Livelihoods in Eastern Afghanistan

Jeddah/Rome. - A targeted grant from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF) will provide key support to communities in eastern Afghanistan, through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), improving food security by rehabilitating climate-resilient irrigation structures to boost wheat production and establish fisheries.

The USD 3 million contribution is provided by the Saudi Fund for Development through the AHTF, which is established by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and managed by the Islamic Development Bank, to support the people of Afghanistan.

The amount, mostly spent on hard infrastructure, will be matched by FAO, making a total of USD 6.18 million available over the next two years for emergency and resilience activities in the eastern provinces of Laghman and Kunar. The matching funding by FAO will be used to stock and operate the fisheries, and to distribute wheat seeds and other crucial inputs, besides providing training.

A main focus of the project is to restore three historical water canals in Eastern Afghanistan that date back to the last century and have presently lost much of their effectiveness.

The project will rehabilitate 21km of canals in Nahr-e Karim, in Qarghayee district of Laghman, an area which provides many of the vegetables consumed in Kabul, as well as the Upper and Lower Sarkano canals in Kunar province, together about 18km.

The canals were dug last century with pickaxes and shovels. Increasingly frequent flash floods have caused sedimentation and damage to canal intake, canal banks and side structures (canal outlets, cross-drainage structures etc.).

Both canal systems currently service hundreds of hectares less than they were designed to and are susceptible to rapid further deterioration. Given the effects of climate change (longer dry and hot periods alternating with flash floods) it is urgent to rehabilitate these irrigation systems in densely populated areas.

Funded by the IsDB-managed AHTF, these activities build both on FAO’s technical expertise in the field of Water Resources and Irrigation (WRI), and on FAO’s large-scale program to provide emergency relief to Afghan farmers.

This timely funding by AHTF through the Islamic Development Bank and contributed by SFD will support communities in two of eastern Afghanistan’s key agricultural production areas. This support will not only address the populations’ immediate food security needs, but also take a holistic approach to solving the water problems which affect the area, laying the groundwork for more durable solutions and lasting improvements for food security and nutrition.

With the help of local construction companies working under the supervision of FAO’s engineers, FAO will repair the canals to ensure irrigation to over 2 100 ha, benefiting around 10 500 households, at least 70 000 people.

Of this group, 8 000 households will be directly supported with a wheat cultivation package, allowing them to grow enough wheat during at least three years to meet their family’s annual wheat requirements. Working in close collaboration with local communities, eight locations will be selected to establish fish farms. When operational, each fish farm is expected to produce 1.5 metric tons of fish per year, which at current prices is worth USD 6,000 – 7,000 on the market. The salary of a teacher, in comparison, is about USD 150 per month. Fish consumption will also improve nutrition within target communities.

FAO engineers, hydrologists and technical specialists bring decades of experience in improving the collection and distribution of surface waters, critical skills in a drought-prone region such as Afghanistan.

The project will draw on locally tested solutions, such as those pioneered by Dr. Tetsu Nakamura in Nangarhar, who brought 25 000 ha of land under cultivation by adapting old Japanese irrigation techniques to the culture and geography of the Eastern Region.

FAO’s emergency relief program has reached 16 million people since it began in 2021, about half of Afghanistan’s rural population. It is designed to make farmers and rural communities self-sufficient, transitioning out of emergency assistance towards sustainable development by providing inputs and training. The improvements in Afghan food security have been noticeable: while 55% of the Afghan population was deemed to be in acute or emergency food insecurity in late 2021, by May 2024 that percentage had halved to 27% - despite the ongoing drought and economic crisis caused by the withdrawal of the international community after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.