Profiles: Central-eastern Afghanistan

Main crops and cropping systems

Autumn/winter crops
Wheat is the staple crop and is sown as an autumn and almost entirely irrigated crop.

Spring/summer crops
Maize is an important summer crop up to 1,800m. Some very short duration local cultivars of maize are found here which mature in 90 days. As double cropping cannot be practiced in this area, maize is often sown as a late spring crop, sometimes after a clover break. It is cultivated for both green fodder and grain depending on its sowing date and the altitude. Earlier sown maize intended as a grain crop is known as 'sarda' and the later sown crop, usually intended as a green fodder, is called 'garma'. Taste and flavour are important characteristics, with some regions preferring white grain and others yellow.
Pulses such as beans and vegetables such as onions are grown as both subsistence and cash crops.
Potatoes are cultivated in the higher valleys, mainly subsistence but surplus crops are sold to traders from Pakistan.
Persian clover is widely cultivated as an early fodder crop, and some lucerne is also grown.
Vegetables are widely grown. Most households maintain small gardens for domestic consumption, but some valleys also specialise in commercial production. The Tagab Valley in Kapisa province and the Mohamed Aga Valley in Logar province produce onions for Kabul and Jalalabad cities, and the Khak-i-Jabbar Valley in Kabul province produces a variety of vegetables for Kabul city markets.

Fruit and nuts
Apples and pomegranates are important crops, and there has been an increased interest in commercial production. In the early 1990s new orchards were established in Wardak and Logar provinces and commercial apple production is a serious export business.
Apricots are also an important crop and are dried for export.
Mulberries are widely grown for domestic consumption and as shade trees.

Illicit crops
Opium poppy is hardly cultivated in this region except for a limited amount in the Tagab Valley, Kapisa province, the Sarobi district of Kabul province and the Azro district of Logar province.
Cannabis was an important commercial crop in the Azro district of Logar province but was replaced by opium poppy after the Taliban ban. Reports indicate a return to cannabis production in Azro in 2001.