Global Map of Irrigation Areas

Afghanistan

The last available census-based inventory of irrigated areas dates back to 1967, giving a total of 2 385 290 ha [AF01]. However, land-cover maps, recently produced through the collaborative efforts of FAO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Office (Kabul), indicate that the extent of irrigated areas has not changed much in the last 35 years. Therefore, about 190 000 ha are classified as intensively irrigated (two crops, rice–wheat), about 1 370 000 ha as cropped and irrigated at least once a year, and about 1 650 000 ha as irrigated occasionally (every two or three years) [AF02].

Based on these findings, the area equipped for irrigation was computed on a district level based on the recently produced land-cover map as the sum of areas classified as intensively or occasionally irrigated. The estimates are shown in the table below and total 3 199 070 ha. However, the area actually irrigated may be significantly lower. Following statistics recently published by the Central Statistics Office, the extent of paddy cultivation has been 121 000 - 180 000 ha in the last ten years, and the extent of wheat has been 1 600 000 - 2 050 000 ha [AF03]. About 46 percent of the harvested wheat area was irrigated in 2003 [AF04].

The irrigated areas were derived from land-cover maps, recently produced through the collaborative efforts of FAO, the United Nations Development Programme and the Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Office Kabul [AF05].

References

[AF01]: Ministry of Water and Power. 1967. Irrigated areas per province and per source. Table available in the AQUASTAT library.
[AF02]: Afghanistan Information Management Service (AIMS), FAO. 2003. Land cover of Afghanistan (1993). Dataset and documentation available at http://www.fao.org and http://www.aims.org.af.
[AF03]: Central Statistics Office of Afghanistan. 2004. Cultivated land area, crop (hectare) (available at http://www.aims.org.af).
[AF04]: Central Statistics Office of Afghanistan. 2004. Wheat: area, yield and production by province (available at http://www.aims.org.af).
[AF05] Afghanistan Information Management Service (AIMS) & FAO. 2003. Land cover of Afghanistan (1993) (available at http://www.fao.org and at http://www.aims.org.af).

Distribution of irrigated area in Afghanistan by District and Province.