FAO in Afghanistan

FAO Helps Rural Women for Their Livelihoods Improvement in Bamyan, Afghanistan

26/09/2019

Bamyan was once a hub of Buddhism at one point in the history influenced by several religions and cultures. Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, it still enjoys its beautiful landscape, magnificent Buddhist grottoes in the caves, and the highest ancient Buddha statues in the world. The magnificent Bamyan Buddha statues were unfortunately destroyed in 2001.

Today Bamyan is a paradise in Afghanistan. The amazing landscape is blessed with majestic mountains and rivers, green trees, beautiful pastures and fruit orchards, and arable lands, and the city has clean t streets. People live and work in peace, and one can hardly feel the shadows of conflict here.

The province is relatively rich in water resources compared to other regions in the country, and as a matter of fact it is the source of all five river basins of Afghanistan. Agriculture is the backbone of the rural economy here and families grow wheat and other cereals, potatoes, and fruits, such as apple, walnuts and sweet cherries, and raise livestock and poultry.

Despite the availability of water in abundance, last year's drought still affected the smallholders. Several families lost their crops and many patches of land remained uncultivated due to lack of agriculture inputs and water.  Fortunately Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supported the most vulnerable rural households with timely provision of seeds and fertilizers, and cash for work that helped local farmers and herders, especially rural women, protect their agriculture-based livelihoods in the severe drought situation.

Jamila Husainy from the Shibarto Community in Ekhtyaran village is an exemplary young woman in Bamyan, who has benefited a lot from FAO project. In 2018, 26 women out of 200 families in her village were selected to form a Common Interest Group (CIG) and she was luckily one of them.  All the members were provided with two female sheep and two lambs, and a trainer came to the village twice a month to train them how to immunize the sheep, milk them and make dairy products. She was also trained to read and write.

Another significant skill she learnt was to run ‘savings and credit’ through a mutual revolving fund. “We have saved about 135,000 Afghanis (approximately USD 1,800) in our revolving fund; we can lend money to any other member whenever needed, for instance, to run a private business; and the return rate is 100%”, says Jamila proudly. As a common practice, the CIG does not charge any interest on the amount credited to its members. The CIG also nominated a leader among themselves, who coordinates with a local trader for the sale of their milk and milk products. “The number of sheep has multiplied, the quantity of milk production has increased, and so has our income”, exclaims Jamila with joy.

Rahima Nazari is another exemplary woman of the same CIG, whose livelihoods in the past relied largely on weaving carpets in the winter. She had nothing to do in the summer except helping the men in the fields. Last year, due to severe drought, they could not plant crops. “We went hungry almost every day”, says Rahima with sorrow in her eyes.  “Now with the sheep and lambs I have received, I am busy with works in summer, and the household income this year has considerably increased through the sale of cheese and Panir”, explains Rahima with a beautiful smile on her face. “I use the money earned to buy food, daily necessities for the family and medicines. I can nowadays even keep some income as my savings”, proudly explains Rahima.

Excited with the initial success, all the 26 CIG women members hope that this project can be continued and expanded to cover all 200 households in the future, with better animal health and crop management techniques, and link them with the markets and solve the problem of water shortage.

“Bamyan is a beautiful and safe place with wonderful people. I highly value the collaboration with FAO and Switzerland over the years and expect to strengthen it in the coming years”, says Mr. Mohammad Tahir Zohair, the Governor of Bamyan.

According to Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative in Afghanistan, FAO invested US$7 million (with funding from Switzerland) over the past three years in supporting 9,283 households and 500 CIGs in Bamyan for livelihoods development. “This is a perfect model of collaboration since FAO provides the technical support and provincial department implements the social mobilization works”, explains Rajendra. “We look forward to upscaling this model with further support from Switzerland and other donors”, adds Rajendra further.