The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that persistently high fertiliser prices and a shortage of irrigation water have increased the risk of a decline in wheat cultivation in Afghanistan. Based on the agency’s latest assessment, nearly 80% of the farming communities surveyed said they would reduce winter wheat planting in the coming season if fertiliser prices remain high.<\/p>\n
The FAO said the declining financial capacity of rural families, together with rising production costs, has placed farmers under greater pressure. According to the agency, nearly two-thirds of the communities surveyed expect to buy less fertiliser this year than last year, a situation that could affect crop production and rural household incomes.<\/p>\n
The report says farmers may respond to higher costs by reducing fertiliser use, borrowing money, or selling some of their livestock and assets. The FAO warned that these pressures could further weaken rural livelihoods.<\/p>\n
Water scarcity has also been identified as one of the major constraints facing Afghanistan’s agricultural sector. According to the assessment, only 22% of the communities surveyed said they have sufficient irrigation water, while 57% are facing reduced supply and rotational water distribution, and 21% said irrigation water is insufficient. In total, 78% of these communities are facing some form of pressure caused by water shortages.<\/p>\n
The FAO said the main factors behind this situation include falling groundwater levels, reduced river flows, problems in the management of dams and irrigation canals, and higher fuel costs for pumping water. The agency also added that above-average temperatures across much of Afghanistan, especially in low-lying areas, have increased crops’ water needs while also drying up pastures and reducing fodder for livestock.<\/p>\n
The assessment was carried out in late August across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan and included 330 group discussions with local communities. The FAO had previously warned in August that rising fertiliser prices would further raise the risk of a drop in Afghanistan’s wheat production in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FAO warns high fertiliser prices and water shortages are threatening wheat cultivation in Afghanistan, with farmers under growing pressure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-important-news","category-secondary-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}