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Almond production in Afghanistan is ranked by FAO as tenth in the list of almond producing countries of the world, though its domestic production is limited to 2% of the world production. Its production has shown a rising trend in the recent years. Within the country the South–Western and Northern Regions have the maximum area under this crop with Kandahar and Samangan province]], accounting for much of its production, followed by the provinces of Uruzgan, Kunduz, Balkh, Saripul. As of 2012 the cropped are under almond was 13,490 ha with an yield rate of 45,960 hectagarm per ha recording a total yield of 62,000 tonnes. With conducive climatic conditions for growing variety of almond landraces of hard shell and soft shell varieties. The preferred markets for export of Afghan almonds is to India and Pakistan, with farmer preferred because of better profitability.

Varieties

Almond is a fruit crop classified under two types, the Amygdalus communis (sweet almonds) and Amygdalus amara (bitter almonds). Under this broad classification, in Afghanistan the almond varieties grown are under two major class of: The soft-shell almonds, locally known as badam-e kaghaz with literal meaning of "paper almond" which can be easily broken with hand; hard/medium-shell almonds with the local name of badam-e-sangi which literally means stone almond; and these have many sub types and multiple varieties such as Sattarbai which is of the soft-shell class. Sattarbai has other varieties such as Sattarbai Sufi, SattarbaiGuldar and SattarbaiMamakhail. A study indicates that there are 68 to 99 Almond genotypes in the country with varying local names.

To enhance production of almonds under the "Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East and West project (IDEA-NEW) project, 33,000 almond saplings of the alomond varieties called the Satar Baye, Qambari, Qahar Baye and Zareer Baye were planted in a 100 ha area in the northernarea of the country to benefit 100 farmers. This has proved to be generally successful in most of the areas surveyed with a farmer saying: "...I am grateful to IDEA-NEW for establishing one big almond orchard for me and providing me with technical assistance on the methods of gardening, like the layout and design of orchard with proper system of irrigation.”

Almond farmers in the province of Uruzgan who have learnt the art of growing almonds in recent time grow the crop on commercial lines and the almond they grow is motly of the bitter variety which is mixed with the commercially acceptable variety.

Roots of Peace, a humanitarian organization working in Afghanistan, introduced bee farms along with almond trees to enhance almond yields, though this was initially not acceptable to the local farmers as they believed that bees would harm the plants. Once introduced the experiment has proved a success with the yeld per tree recording an increase of about 40%..

Production and consumption

Almond production was recorded at 62,000 metric tons during 2012 which was a 2% increase over the 2011 figure of 60,610 metric tons. Mjor production was the provinces of Samangan, Baghlan, Tahar and Parwan with Samangan recording the highest yield. Most of the almonds produced is consumed within the country with only 3% quantity exported. Theey are marketed in both in-shell and shelled form. Its export variety is as competitive as the Californian almond and cheaper than variety marketed by Spain and is therefore have a price advantage for export to Central and South Asia.

References

1. "Market Brief: Almonds-An Overview of Export Potential" (pdf). Government of Afghanistan. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
2. "Final 2012 Data and Preliminary 2013 Data". FAO Organization. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
3. "National Survey at The Village Level:Almond". FAO Organization. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
4. ^ "An Almond Marketing Manual For Afghanistan: Key Concepts" (pdf). University of California, Davis. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
5. ^ "Afghan Almond - Cost Competitive Analysis" (pdf). Export Promotion Agency for Afghanistan. 15 September 2014. pp. 6, 10, 12. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
6. "Afghan Almonds Offer Farmers High-Value Market Opportunity". ACDI/VOCA. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
7. "Afghan farmers turn almonds into profit". Retrieved Official webpage of the United States Army. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
8. "BIG BUZZ" AMONG ALMOND FARMERS IN AFGHANISTAN NOVEMBER 16, 2009" (odf). European Commission to Afghanistan. Retrieved 12 November 2015.

• Almonds
• Afghanistan
• Edible nuts and seeds
• Flora of Asia