AFGHANISTAN: Pomegranate farmers rue Kandahar fighting
KABUL, 19 October 2010 (IRIN) – It is the season for harvesting pomegranates (granatæbler) – a major fruit crop in Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan – but some farmers say fighting there has badly affected their farms and livelihoods.
– My pomegranate garden has been totally destroyed, said Obaidullah, a farmer in Kandahar’s Arghandab District where NATO-led forces have launched a major anti-Taliban operation.
– We are unable to work in our farms because of the war, said another farmer, Ahmad Jan, from the same district.
Government officials acknowledge that the war has damaged agriculture but blame the insurgents.
– The Taliban have planted explosives on some farms, meaning farmers cannot irrigate their land, so the pomegranate trees have dried up, Toryalai Weesa, the governor of Kandahar, told IRIN.
Hundreds of foreign and Afghan forces are engaged in military operations in the Arghandab, Panjwaye and Zheray districts of Kandahar Province aiming to drive out Taliban insurgents, according to NATO officials.
IRIN contacted NATO’s press office in the south of Afghanistan for a comment on the impact of military operations on agriculture but was told the regional command was “busy” and “focused on matters in hand”.
Pomegranates and grapes are the main sources of livelihood for thousands of families in the province.
The government, backed by donors such as the United States Agency for International Development, promotes fruit exports.
A new transit agreement, signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan in July, allows Afghan traders to export local agricultural produce by road to Indian markets.
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