Afghan fruit and nut growers are reaping the rewards of a $6.6 million (£3.19m) agricultural and marketing assistance programme implemented by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The programme, which is being rolled out in the war-torn region of Kandahar in Afghanistan, aims to generate sustained economic growth that can help reduce and eventually eliminate cultivation of poppies for the heroin trade - Afghanistan’s most successful export.

“Revenue from legal exports has increased an average of 28 per cent annually over the last four years, and will continue to expand,” said Loren Owen Stoddard, director of alternative development and agriculture for USAID. Around 330 vineyards and orchards have been planted in Kandahar, and 51 raisin sheds have been rehabilitated. Next year, 12,500 grape vines will be planted.

Pomegranate growers in particular are enjoying the effects of the new programme. Ubaidullah Jan, a 50-year-old farmer from the Arghandab area just north of Kandahar, said the price his fruits command has doubled this year to about 54c a pound, due to a new coldstorage facility opened in September and a quality control programme set up by USAID.

The organisation is trying to increase contacts with potential buyers overseas. The programme has already shipped 1,000 tonnes of pomegranates to India, 600t to Pakistan and 36t to Dubai. A sample 1,000lb shipment has also been sent to the US, according to a USAID programme officer in Kandahar. It is hoped the programme could lure other farmers back into growing legal crops.

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