Bala Rice & Passion for Qabili Palau

When you are invited guest in most parts of Afghanistan, and you are dear to them, they will certainly cook you Qabili Palau (Afghan dish, a variety of pilaf, consisting of steamed rice mixed with raisin, carrots, and lamb). Qabili may be termed ‘Qabili’ as it has been a famous dish for residents of Kabul for long and gradually it has been termed Qabili.

Rice, which is obtained from paddy cultivation, is the backbone of Qabili Palau. Qabili Palau consists streamed rice, raisin, carrots, onion, garlic, and sometimes pistachio, almond, and green pepper as well.

Habibullah is a hotel owner in Kunduz City. He does not have a lot of guests but his hotel guests are mostly special customers who come from other provinces. Perhaps one of the reason that why he has less customers might be that his hotel is so small and primitive.

Habibullah says, “Pakistani Basmati rice, which is mostly cooked easily now a days by cooks do not have half of the flavor as Afghan Bala Rice (delicious rice from northern Afghanistan).

He believes that Pakistan Basmati Rice become long by using of drugs and machines.

He says that Pakistani Sella Rice, though consumes much water, never finds the flavor and teste of domestic rice (Afghan Bala Rice) because it is made resistant against cracking by chemical drugs.

Habibullah says, “If Qabili Palau is cooked with sesame oil, Bala Rice of Kunduz, and skilled Uzbek and Turkmen cook, you can no longer get better Qabili Palau than this.” 

Habibullah himself is Turkmen of Kunduz province. Some Turkmen of Kunduz province eat Palau three times a day, tea and spaghetti are served before and after the meals.

But everything, as Habibullah says, is not according to the fineness of Kunduz rice because shoppers are always deceived by merchants on the pretext of selling Bala Rice; instead, buyers turn to buy Pakistani Sella Rice.

Mohammad Yosuf, who turns 56 this July, and is resident of Kunduz’s City third district, always buys Bala Rice and has a special talent in rice recognition. He says, “I know which type of rice to buy but most of our neighbors have become tired of being deceived by shopkeepers and prefer not to buy Afghan Bala Rice.”

Basmati, Zerati, Sorkha Zerati, Louk, and Bala are the famous rice produced in Kunduz province, of which Bala is the most famous and delicious one.

Last year was not a good year for Afghanistan’s agriculture and livestock holders due to the drought but the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL) in effective irrigation led to a four percent increase of paddy crops.

Effective irrigation was not the only effort that MAIL did for paddy cultivation growth. The increase of paddy cultivation by seven percent, creation of testing units for extension, distribution of paddy cultivation equipment, training and counseling of farmers, were the other efforts that MAIL did for farmers who cultivate paddy.

Kunduz Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock Directorate said, “On May 8, 2018, which was the beginning days of paddy seedlings cultivation, the process of creating 150 testing units began. The plan for the creation of the testing units was explained in a technical learning workshop in presence of 30 extension employee of MAIL in the center and districts of Kunduz. In the technical workshop, information about nurseries and its management was provided for farmers.

According to the MAIL’s statistics, these services were not provided only in Kunduz but also in Nangarhar, Takhar, Baghlan, Balkh, Laghman, Kunar, Herat and other provinces where paddy is being cultivated.

These services has resulted in increase of paddy crops by four percent in 2018 compared to 2017.
The reason for the increase of the crops is increase of paddy cultivation fields and prevention of water waste by implementing more irrigation projects.

The joint survey of the Central Statistics Organization and Ministry of Agriculture was carried out based on the paddy crops statistics of the country using Geographic Information System (GIS).

In the year 1397 Solar Year (2018) 117,540 hectares of area were under paddy cultivation, which shows a seven percent increase in the area compared to 2017. In 2018, 352,000 metric tons of rice were produced which shows four percent increase compared to 2017.

According to these statistics, Afghanistan’s total needs for rice is 574,000 metric tons annually, but Afghanistan produces only 352,000 metric tons annually, which needs 222,000 metric tons in order to become self-sufficient. According to these statistics, the total volume of rice imports in three quarter of 2018 was 180,000 metric tons, which cost a total of 92 million USD.

Paddy cultivation takes place in 81 districts of 17 provinces. Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar, Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar, Balkh, Herat, Badghis, Badakhshan, Khost, Paktika, Daikundi, Uruzgan, Kabul, Bamyan, and Sar-e-Pul are respectively the provinces where paddy is being cultivated.

According to the survey, Kunduz is at the forefront of the rice producing provinces in the country. There are 48,229 hectares of paddy cultivation areas in the province. Some 3. 36 tons of rice is produced from each hectare of land. The increase in paddy crops comes as MAIL spent 2.9 billion AFN for the implementation of 235 projects, benefiting 1.2 million farmers from water, reducing water losses, and increase of crop yields in the fiscal year 1397 (2018).

Abdul Shokor, a paddy cultivator of Kunduz’s Chardara, says that he gained good crop yields from his paddy fields. 

Paddy is cultivated in Kunduz’s Khan Abad, Chardara, Imam Saheb, Dasht-e-Archi, and Qala-e-Zal respectively of which Khan Abad produces the best quality rice.