Afghan Women Grow their Income through Kitchen Gardening

ROKHA DISTRICT, Panjshir Province – For the past two hours, Mina has been working tirelessly in her field. She is weeding among the vegetables and slowly moving forward. .

Mina lives in Panjshir Province. Eight years ago, her husband died of a serious illness and her life grew harder—she had no income and there was no one who could support her and her family of five.

Mina had no hope for the future, but after a few months, she decided to rent her neighbors’ farmland and cultivate vegetables to support her family. Though this enabled her to survive, Mina’s income was low as she had no experience in cultivation, irrigation, or harvesting. “I didn’t have enough knowledge, I just planted the seeds, irrigated, and reaped the crops,” she says in a soft voice.

of the National Horticulture and Livestock Project (NHLP).  She received tools and equipment, such as a wheelbarrow, spade, and harvest baskets, as well as regular training on modern cultivation, irrigation, harvesting, and marketing in addition to seeds from NHLP.

NHLP’s assistance helped her modernize her cultivation methods and produce better quality vegetables in larger quantities. “I sell my produce to locals and at the nearest market to our village, and then I spend my earnings on my family’s needs,” says Mina. She now cultivates zucchinis, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, onions, coriander, among other vegetables, whereas she grew only a few varieties before.

Between 2016-201. The greenhouses allow Mina and other village women to grow vegetables even during the winter. This expanded growing season provides Mina with income during the three months of the year when she did not previously have income. “Now, we have one more season for cultivation,” says Shir, who helps Mina occasionally. “Mostly we plant vegetables like leek, onion, cress, and celery during winter and all the villagers buy their vegetables from us.”

Assistance through NHLP is not just helping Mina improve her production during the regular growing season, it is helping her be more strategic about selling her products in a way that maximizes value. During the summer when the villagers grow vegetabs learned different ways of making torshis and has received equipment from NHLP, enabling her to earn more from her vegetable sales throughout the year.

Women Learn to be Self-Sustaining

The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) implements NHLP, which work toward the overarching goal of increased productivity and overall production of the horticultural and livestock sub-sectors. The project began national activities in April 2013 and its work will run through the end of 2020. It is supported by a $190 million grant from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), administered by the World Bank on behalf of 34 donors.

, with gradual rollout of farmer-centric agricultural services, systems, and investment support across the country. Its activities are currently implemented in 288 districts across all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces, numbers that may grow as conditions warrant.

The project started its work in Panjshir in 2008, covering all seven of the province’s districts. The kitchen gardening program is active in three districts, Bazarak, Rokha, and Onaba, where there are 29 kitchen gardening groups, reaching 760 women.

In Qabdan village, 25 other women have also joined NHLP’s kitchen gardening initiative. “. The women taking part in NHLP have learned a lot about vegetables and they have better harvests than before,” says Zarghona, extension worker in Panjshir.

. Like Zarghona, they offer help to kitchen garden program participants, who receive support for three years. During that period, they receive training and help to solve challenges they may face..