Profiles: Southwestern Afghanistan

Main crops and cropping systems

Autumn/winter crops
Wheat is the staple crop and it is irrigated and sown in the autumn - some as late as early December in Helmand province. Double cropping is possible throughout the region, except in the higher areas of Zabol and Uruzgan provinces, but only if irrigation water is available.

Spring/summer crops
Maize is the main summer crop, both for grain and green fodder. In the early 1990s FAO successfully introduced several improved lines of open pollinated maize.
Pulses, mainly mung beans, are grown.
Cotton was an important crop before the Soviet war and much of the economic return of the Helmand/Arghandab scheme was based on cotton production. Unprocessed cotton is still grown in Helmand province and sold to Pakistani traders, but local ginning and processing facilities have collapsed and opium poppy has taken the place of cotton as the most important cash crop.
Vegetables of all kinds are cultivated across the region, mainly for domestic consumption.
Sesame, linseed, oil seed mustard and sunflowers are cultivated but the drought has negatively affected this.
Saffron grows well in some districts such as Maiwand, in Kandahar province, but fits into a different agricultural niche than poppy and is not a viable alternative.
Black and white cumin are grown in Zabol, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces.

Fruit and nuts
Raisins have been have been the main cash crop for the region for centuries in Kandahar province and along the Arghandab River valley. Before the Soviet war Afghanistan controlled 60 percent of the world market for raisins, most of which came from this region. The industry suffered severe damage during the war and the drought has further jeopardised the industry.
Pomegranates from Kandahar province were famous throughout the Indian sub-continent. Many pomegranate orchards are located along the Arghandab River.
Almonds are famous across Kandahar, Zabol and Uruzgan provinces, especially a thin-shelled almond known as 'khargazi'. These command good prices from traders from Quetta in Pakistan.
Apricots are also grown here and in the 1990s FAO supported a number of improved and low-cost systems for drying the fruit.

Illicit crops
Opium poppy is grown extensively in the Helmand/Arghandab basin. Most of the production is in Helmand province, where up to 40,000 ha is grown - almost half the total for the whole country. Cultivation of the crop came to a halt in 2000/2001 following the Taliban ban, but it is enjoying a resurgence. Addiction is a growing problem among returnees from Iran and Pakistan.
Cannabis was a major illicit crop in this region but was banned in 1994 by the Taliban. Many farmers were reported to have reverted to growing cannabis - the traditional illicit crop in the region - following the Taliban's ban on opium poppy.