Perennial Horticulture Development Program (PHDP), Almond Industry Development, 2007–2009, European Commission funded project, $983,000

The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and many aid agencies agree that horticulture development is a primary means to a substantial increase in incomes in the impoverished rural areas in Afghanistan. Yet fruit and nut growers lack technical training and suffer from the lack of access to quality planting material (e.g., nurseries, mother stock rootstocks, resistant varieties, and a certification system.) Almonds are one of five high value horticultural crops identified for development by the Ministry’s Master Plan. A national-level plan is greatly needed to profitably develop an export-led, private-sector almond industry and put in place appropriate systems to preserve the characteristics of Afghanistan’s unique varietals before they are lost forever. 

The European Commission (EC) has been a key supporter of Afghanistan’s reconstruction and stabilization since the fall of the Taliban. The EC’s Perennial Horticulture Development Program (PHDP) is designed to provide long term development assistance to Afghanistan. In April 2007, Roots of Peace began a two year program under the PHDP in support of national almond industry development with a particular focus in the development of nursery systems.

The nursery systems we develop will be managed entirely by the private sector and guided by a national marketing plan that we will detail with preferred varieties grown and promoted within each of the major producing regions in Ghorband, Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh, Kabul and Kandahar provinces.

Our work will include documenting Afghan almond varieties and establishing a national germplasm repository to protect and maintain native almond varieties as well as commercial varieties imported from Europe and the U.S. We will also establish a network of private propagation nurseries in the major growing regions to promote the use of new, clean saplings that will fuel the overall expansion of the almond production in the country. This will result in the formation of a national industrial organization of almond farmers and merchants as the responsible group (working in collaboration with the Ministry) for licensing/certifying plant nurseries to provide high quality planting material to farmers. Ten nurseries will be trained and certified through the program to produce almond saplings and produce certified almonds saplings as demanded by the markets.