QALA-I-NAW (Pajhwok): Wheat production in northwestern Badghis province has increased by 61 percent, compared with last year’s yields, an official said on Tuesday.
The total yield this year was 78,517 tonnes while the 2014 production worked out at 26,392 tonnes, Director of Agriculture, Irrigation and LivestockHafizullah Benish told Pajhwok Afghan News.
He linked the higher yield to timely rains, saying the production could meet the annual requirement of the province. Growers could also sell their wheat to other provinces, he said.
Provincial traders imported a small amount of flour from Iran and Kazakhstan to mix the flour coming from abroad with the local variety, the director added.
His rain-fed land produced 4.8 tonnes of wheat and he sold out half of it at the rate of 25 afghanis per kilo, said a resident of Aab-i-Kamari district, Haq Dad. His land had produced 2.8 tonnes of wheat last year.
As most of land in the mountainous province was rain-fed, the government should pay more attention to establishment of an irrigation system there, he said.
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