June 29, 2012

 

Afghanistan seeks Indian investments in agriculture

 

 

Indian investments in post-harvest management and farm machinery sectors  are being invited by Afghanistan Agriculture Minister Md Asef Rahimi Thursday (June 28), seeing its country as a door to Central Asia.

 

"Afghanistan is the door to Central Asia and investing in agriculture in my country can provide India a good opportunity to tap Central Asian markets like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, etc.," Rahimi said.

 

These countries also have a lot of scope for business in other sectors including agriculture, he added.

 

Rahimi was addressing a session on agro-industry at the Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan jointly organised by CII, the Government of India and the Afghanistan government.

 

"Afghanistan seeks Indian investments in the farm sector especially in fruit processing, packaging and for developing the farm machinery sectors," he said.

 

Rahimi added that the country also has farm lands that it can provide on lease.

 

"Afghanistan has about 73,000 hectares of arable land which it can be given on lease for as much as 90 years. So far the country has leased 7,126 hectares of land, which attracted an investment of US$436.8 million," Afghanistan Agriculture Ministry's Chief of Fields Jawed Paikar said.

 

Paikar added that Afghanistan is also looking at foreign investments to develop its farm machinery sector. The country seeks to set up more manufacturing units, increase the workforce in the sector and develop market linkages.

 

The dairy and poultry sector is another area, which can be of business importance to India, he said. Afghanistan imports about 80,000 tonnes of frozen and fresh chicken and around 10,160 tonnes of milk, Paikar added.

 

That apart the market for developing the fruit processing industry is also positive as the country imports a large quantity of fruit juices, jams and jellies, he said. Another area in agriculture that can be of importance to Indian businessmen is that of saffron farming, Rahimi said.

 

"Afghani saffron is famous all over the world for its distinctive flavour. The country produces 49,268 kilogrammes of saffron with a productivity of 7-8 kilogrammes per hectare. The return on investments in this sector is huge," he noted. Saffron from Afghanistan has good demand in Middle East and Europe, Rahimi added.

 

On bilateral trade front, the potential areas for exports from Afghanistan to India are agricultural products and carpets while imports from India include industrial goods. In 2010-11, the bilateral trade between the two countries stood at US$500 million.