Afghanistan
Implementation of the Global Strategy in Afghanistan
58.1% employed in agriculture
24.5% share of agriculture in GDP
Challenges
Almost 75 percent of Afghanistan's population lives in rural areas. While the country's economy overall can be characterized as agricultural, in recent years this has remained primarily on a subsistence basis. Afghanistan relies heavily on international aid to meet its basic nutritional needs. These challenging issues for agricultural production have been exacerbated by increasingly volatile weather conditions and little access to arable land. Despite these adversities, Wheat remains the main cultivated cereal crop, accounting for over 32 percent of arable land used, and provides subsistence and employment to most rural populations. Afghanistan currently has a legal basis for collection and use of agricultural statistics, but it is considered inadequate. The country does not have a strategic plan for the development of statistics, though one is currently under development.
Current Work
Implementation of the Global Strategy in Afghanistan started in August 2015. The Global Strategy in Asia Pacific is partnering with Afghanistan's Central Statistics Organization and Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock on producing a Strategic Plan for Agricultural and Rural Statistics (SPARS) for the country. Though implementation is in its early stages, one national workshop to initiate technical assistance activities has taken place.
Achievements
The national workshop to initiate technical assistance activities has led to preliminary work on the main guiding outputs for the country - an In-depth Country Assessment report, a country proposal paper resulting from the country assessment and a draft roadmap for the SPARS. The first draft of the SPARS roadmap has been completed, and a follow-up mission will be scheduled in 2016 to advance all three reports. The reports will form the foundation of proposed country activities.