Agriculture – including livestock-related activities – is the backbone of Afghanistan’s economy. For around half (49 percent) of households agriculture provides any source of income and for 30 percent it is even the most important source. Similarly, with 40 percent of the labour force engaged in agriculture, it is the main sector for employment. CSO estimates that the sector contributes 27 percent to the country’s GDP in the solar year 1390 (2011-12) (CSO 2012).
Livestock production is a major source of income and food for Afghan farmers and their families. For some, such as the Kuchi nomads, animals are the only source of income.there are 3.7 million cattle in Afghanistan, 8.8 million sheep, 7.3 million goats, 1.6 million donkeys, 180 000 camels, 140 000 horses and 12.2 million poultry.
The number of families without livestock has increased from 11.4 to 14.4 families per community due to the drought.
The number of cattle
Agriculture – including livestock-related activities – is the backbone of Afghanistan’s economy. For around half (49 percent) of households agriculture provides any source of income and for 30 percent it is even the most important source. Similarly, with 40 percent of the labour force engaged in agriculture, it is the main sector for employment. CSO estimates that the sector contributes 27 percent to the country’s GDP in the solar year 1390 (2011-12) (CSO 2012).
Livestock production is a major source of income and food for Afghan farmers and their families. For some, such as the Kuchi nomads, animals are the only source of income.there are 3.7 million cattle in Afghanistan, 8.8 million sheep, 7.3 million goats, 1.6 million donkeys, 180 000 camels, 140 000 horses and 12.2 million poultry.
The number of families without livestock has increased from 11.4 to 14.4 families per community due to the drought.
The number of cattle per family, for example, has fallen from 3.7 in 1995 to 1.22 in 2003, while the number of sheep decreased particularly sharply from 21.9 to 2.9 over the same period.
The Kuchi nomads and other semi-nomadic pastoralists in the provinces of Ghazni, Zabul, Kabul and Kandahar have been particularly hit by the drought, FAO said. About 60 percent of the Kuchi households have completely lost their livestock. The majority of households have yet to recover.
Oxen are used as a major source of farm power for ploughing, transport and threshing. Numbers of draught animals have also declined over the past years.
