KABNUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday officially opened the 17th international exhibition of agricultural products in Badam Bagh of Kabul city and said the efforts made in the agriculture sector is not satisfactory and a big part of agricultural land is not being cultivated.
The president said 60 percent of food is not secure in the country and that 15 percent of the population faces a hunger problem.
Ghani also blasted the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and said it has not built a water distribution network from the Salma Dam.
"Salma Dam, the Afghan-India friendship dam, has been completed and now the ministry should use its water, but over the past year, the ministry failed to do so," Ghani said.
Ghani further added a big part of the agricultural land in the country is not being used and as a result Afghanistan imports one million tons of wheat yearly.
"Development in the agriculture sector is not acceptable for the Afghan people and for me. Because the land that is being cultivated now is equal to two-thirds of the land that was cultivated during the presidency of Daud Khan," he added.
However, Assadullah Zamir, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation said the ministry has plans for establishing water distribution networks, poultry farms, greenhouses, gardens, saffron quality labratories and expanding of saffron cultivation in the country.
"We have started development projects in the provinces and villages that were not practiced before," Zamir said.
Meanwhile, a number of women in agriculture, voiced their challenges, and urged the government to help them.
"We urge the government to help village women play a bigger role in agriculture and to allocate development budgets for empowering women in the long-term," said Hafiza, a female farmer. (Tolonews)