October 20, 2006

Project to revive Afghanistan's livestock sector

A thriving livestock industry could be what Afghanistan can look forward to, if a project by the University of California, Davis, and Texas A&M University bears fruit.

Researchers at Texas A&M are entering into a four-year partnership programme with the UC Davis-based Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program, aimed at introducing technology and monitoring necessary to help Afghan herders.

A $4.4 million federal grant, from the US Agency for International Development's Mission to Afghanistan, will go to helping herders better track forage availability and forecast feed shortages.

Shepherds and herders in arid Afghanistan have fallen at the mercy of forage availability, which is at the crux of livestock survival there. Being able to predict any shortages and plan ahead will provide these raisers with the confidence in managing their own livestock, said an agency representative. 

Afghanistan has been beset with major challenges in rebuilding its agricultural sector since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, one of the most potent of which has been the years of drought. This has made the country reliant on international food aid, where once agriculture had supplied 80 percent of Afghanistan's national income.

A computerised system that gathers and analyses information on livestock movement and sales will be made available via radio to Kuchi herders, who can then plan on getting the best prices for their animals. As part of the project, conflict-resolution training workshops will be conducted to help tackle arguments related to grazing issues.