High Economic Council Approves the National Scheme of Building Date Gardens

The national scheme for building date gardens prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL) and presented to the High Economic Council by Agriculture Minister Nasir Ahmad Durrani was approved by the council.

Akbar Rostami, spokesman for MAIL, said, “ The Ministry of Agriculture, based on this scheme, will build 2,700 hectares of commercial date gardens and also create three laboratories for the cultivation of tissues for the production of improved date seedlings.”

Rostami added, “Also, the construction of research date farm and national collection of date in Farah, Helmand, and Nangarhar provinces as well as the implementation of standards, quality control, issuance of attestations, marketing, and extension services are the other parts of this scheme.”

The program of the Ministry of Agriculture in this scheme includes the construction of commercial date gardens, the use of dry and uncultivated land for construction of date gardens, production of improved date seedlings, production of good quality products for domestic markets, creating new investment opportunities for the private sectors and creation of national collection of different date seedlings.

The implementation of the scheme costs 15.11 million USD.

Afghanistan with diverse climate, hot, dry and long summer, and deserts is suitable for the production and cultivation of date trees. The cultivation of date is common from ancient times in Nangarhar, Laghman, Farah, Nimruz, Helmand, Kandahar, and Khost provinces.

The climatic conditions of the above-mentioned provinces are very favorable for the cultivation of date.

Afghanistan last year imported 18,760 tons of date worth 9.2 million USD.

The main aim of the Ministry of Agriculture in constructing and implementing this plan is to increase the production of good quality date in order to switch imports. Self-sufficiency in the production of domestic consumption date can add up to 10 million USD annually to the Afghan economy and besides it will provide many working and investment opportunities.

The Ministry of Agriculture ask investors and the private sector to come to MAIL if they want to cooperate in the implementation of this scheme.