The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL) has supported the development of Afghanistan’s Agro-Climatic Zoning Atlas Part 1 with several agro-climatic indicators.

The development of this Atlas has enabled the experts to understand the possible climatic change scenarios for the country for the next 100 years using four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) characterizing a range of possible future climate distortions for the periods of 2011–2040, 2041-2069 and 2070–2099.

The predication of the agro-climatic indicators for Afghanistan will enable the agriculture sector to formulate policies and strategies for the adaptation and mitigation of the impacts of climate changes, and it will help the farmers improve their livelihoods through the opportunity to increase production of cereals, fruits, nuts and vegetables.

For the development of agro-ecological zones’ historical assessment time series, data were used from three main sources, namely: the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre, and the EU WATCH Integrated Project, which have been updated on monthly basis with variations in climate over the last century.  Year-by-year climatic data analysis was undertaken for the period between 1961 and 2010, and time series data were used to compile three 30-year baseline data sets for the periods 1961-1990, 1971-2000 and 1981-2010, and for compiling associated statistics.

“Ultimately this analysis will help the Government of Afghanistan develop supply chains for higher value-added products, improve practices and extension services, build downstream agro-processing capacities, improve agriculture monitoring, analysis and land resources information management systems as well as land suitability details. I would like to sincerely thank our counterparts who played an important role in the development of yet another important document that will help us reduce the effects of climate change in agriculture sector in Afghanistan”, said H.E. Nasir Ahmad Durrani, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock 

“With the current trend, climatic conditions in Afghanistan will change and the country will become much warmer in the future. This Atlas can therefore serve as an important data source to inform relevant stakeholders to act timely and respond to the needs of vulnerable farmers and prevent future climate shocks”, said Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative in Afghanistan.

Against the backdrop of climate change, adoption of new strategies for monitoring agriculture, rural land use planning and land management are urgently required in Afghanistan to combat hunger and poverty among rural population and assure sustainable food and feed production for future generations. The availability of reliable information on natural resources and agriculture for its monitoring and analysis is essential to the development and implementation of such strategies. 

The development of this Atlas was done under the FAO project titled “Strengthening Afghanistan Institutions’ Capacity for the Assessment of Agriculture Production and Scenario Development” in Afghanistan funded by the European Union (EU) with a generous contribution of USD 2.5 million.