Livestock and integrated production programme

Livestock survey
In December 2003, FAO published the results of the first livestock census ever conducted in Afghanistan. Data was collected by 900 Afghans in more than 36 700 villages that covered about three million families. Almost every Afghan village was visited. The census shows that there are 3.7 million cattle in Afghanistan, 8.8 million sheep, 7.3 million goats, 1.6 million donkeys, 180 000 camels, 140 000 horses and 12.2 million poultry.

There are no pre-drought data but a comparison with earlier surveys indicates that the number of families without livestock has increased from 4 to 14.4 per community and that the stock-holding level per family has decreased sharply. The number of young animal appears low and the restocking will be slow or impossible with the current reproduction rate.

The Kuchis and the feeding of their breeding flocks
Through FAO funding, activities have been implemented to improve the livelihoods of 5 000 Kuchi households to maintain their livestock production base and to rebuild their herd by providing strategic late-winter feeding and supplementary veterinary care. In addition, FAO is contributing to the establishment of relations between the nomadic Kuchi communities and Government institutions with a view to future development programmes.