Presentation: Afghan Women in Agriculture (April 16th, 2012)

Local elders, leaders and power brokers making a ring of solidarity & pledging to support Afghanaid’s women’s economic empowerment work Warduj District, Badakhshan (2010)

 Afghanaid has 2 decade of rich experience in food security, agriculture and livestock sector in the country, working at grassroots level  We have transferred skills and knowledge, and have introduced new and locally adaptable farming practices, crops & vegetable varieties & animal breed  Between with the financial support of EC, SDC, FAO, OCHA/CERF and GIZ, 7046 women farmers (and 42,276 members of their families) from 1811 villages of 21 districts have directly benefited from this work

Support to women farmers with:  Home Gardening  Off season vegetable production under plastic tunnels  Extensions services and support  Provision of vegetables seed & vegetable farming kits  Capacity building through training  Improved goat rearing  Poultry raising 5

Formation and strengthening of Farmer Groups, Producers Organisations and Associations  223 Saving Groups with 4466 membership, linked markets, provision of Business Development Services (BDS) and technical skills training  establishment of women’s own small agriculture business

 3008 members in 7 registered Farmers Associations including:  Almond Orchard Growers Association (2)  Honey Beekeepers Association (2)  Almond Nursery Grower Association (1)  Apricot and Apple Orchards Association (2)  The association members have received technical trainings and are linked to the traders for various business.  10% of the membership is of women farmers

 42 Agriculture Interest Groups with 511 members have been established in Samangan  40 Producers Groups including 15 Women Horticulture and Livestock Farmers Producers Groups with 330 members in Ayback  16,279 beneficiaries in 751 Home Garden Groups in 1811 villages have received agriculture inputs, technical support and gardening kits

940 vegetable plots were established during winter season under plastic tunnels for growing vegetables and vegetable seedlings or family consumption and for sale purposes Khash district, Badakhshan (October, 2011)

Hazrat-e- Sultan, Samangan (September 2011 )

525 women have received trainings in making pickles, fruits Jam and tomato paste. 30% of these beneficiaries have marketed their products for cash income, rest have consumed family needs Shuhada and Warduj districts, Badakhshan (July, 2011)

 Distribution of poultry birds to 969 women beneficiaries in 544 villages  Poultry kits, poultry feed for first 3 months, poultry sheds trainings, exposure visits  Local women trained as vaccinators Agro, Badakhshan (May, 2011)

 578 women headed households supported with 876 drought resistant breeds of goats  Dairy products used for family consumption and income generation Hazrat-e- Sultan, Samangan (May, 2011)

 4,570 resource poor smallholders farming households (31,990 person) supported with certified wheat seed and other agri inputs to cultivate 3,520 Jarib of irrigated and both Rainfed and 7,750 Jarib of rainfed land in 9 districts  Farmers produced enough for family consumption, seeds for next planting season and making small cash income from surplus  Women members of the families received technical support as equal partner A woman Kitchen Gardner's son selling produce in local market (May, 2011)

16  Successful mobilization and organization of women's common interest groups (farmers association, producer groups, saving groups, etc.), leading to their active participation in their households and communities development processes and creating women’s social support and solidarity networks  Women have successfully saved and generated their own income and economic resources, have taken loans and set up their micro agro businesses, leading to their economic empowerment and increased social status within the household and community These 2 women took loan from their Saving Group and set up a joint cattle and dairy business Samangan (May, 2011)

17  Women have found ‘culturally appropriate and safe’ spaces where they can share, learn and grow their confidence through their women networks  These spaces outside the families has facilitated women to have a process of building ‘power from within’  Women have found increased access to services (e.g. credit for agro businesses), opportunities and information  Women have emerged as change agents Sharakh, Ghor (2009 and 2010)

18 Enhanced technical capacities and technical knowledge built of women farmers in:  Common animal and poultry diseases  Pests and their control measures  Honey beekeeping, goat raising, poultry keeping  Increased food security, food diversity and nutritious diet for families

19  Enhanced technical capacity of women farmers in food processing and drying techniques (through home-based sun driers)  Diversified family income by mobilizing income from agro products to set up microenterprises  Decreased fruit and vegetable losses A woman selling her processed food in a small shop she set up in her village (2009) Women learning to make bio briquettes for home consumption and generating cash income Badakhshan (2009)

20  Limited access of women to input suppliers and service providers (credit, extension services, marketing, etc.)  Critical to form trained women extension service providers networks at local level  Set up mobile credit facility with outreach to women farmers Ghazi Mard,Khuram wa Sarbagh (May, 2011)  Difficult physical terrain, poor communication means and social factors limit women’s mobility to optimally benefit from their collective resources through women only resource networks  Need for large scale investment to rehabilitate degraded agri land to make it optimally productive  Long distance, poor communication and weak infrastructure a major hurdle in the logistics, supply and distribution of inputs to the farmers

21 Natural disasters like drought, flash floods, earthquake, etc. Feroz Nakhchir, Samangan (May, 2011)

تشکر مننه Thank you A bridge constructed by Afghanaid