Farmers face new threat in Kandahar

War ends but enemy of drought threatens Afghans

The war in Afghanistan may be over but farmers in the Arghandab valley, in Kandahar, are facing the new enemy of drought. It has hardly rained for two years across the valley, and the drought is so severe some farmers question how much longer they can live off the land.

Mohammed Rahim, 30, grew up working on a farm along with his father and grandfather in the Arghandab district of the southern province. Famous for its fruit and vegetables, the area is known as the bread basket of Kandahar.

Like most in the valley, Rahim’s family relies solely on farming. “The fighting has just stopped. Peace has returned but now we face another war, drought. Now we have to dig deep to pump water out of the land,” said Rahim. “There has been little rain and we have a drought here. I don’t know if our coming generations can rely on farming the way our ancestors did.”

Pir Mohammed, 60, has been a farmer for more than four decades. “Not long ago there were water channels flowing into the farm and we were providing the remaining water to other farmers,” he said.

“The water was running after us, flowing everywhere – but now we are running after water.” The water used to come free from the river but now the daily cost of diesel for the water pump is at least 2,500 Afghani (£21). “We are in loss. We are using our savings. But we don’t have any other option as we do it for survival,” said Mohammed.

About 70% of Afghans live in rural areas and are particularly vulnerable to the impact of drought. Last week Rein Paulsen, the director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Office of Emergencies and Resilience, said severe drought was affecting 7.3 million people in 25 of the country’s 34 provinces. “If agriculture collapses further it will drive up malnutrition, increase displacement and worsen the humanitarian situation.”

Arghandab has been a favourite area for farming because of the abundance of water and fertile land. Neikh Mohammed, 40, arrived in Arghandab in 2005, amazed at the greenery and pomegranate farms. “It used to rain a lot here, we could not cross the river. We had a life with abundant water. But the past is another country.”

A report by the UN mission in Afghanistan says many local farmers were caught in the crossfire between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban.

“For the past 20 years we did not have peace and could not work after dark in our farms. Now we can stay as long as we want without any fear,” said Neikh Mohammed. “Now the challenge is … the drought and escalating cost of essential commodities.”

Farmers say they want support from international aid agencies and the new government led by the Taliban. Pir Mohammed said: “The real challenge for us now is drought not war. We need food, water, infrastructure, dams. The world should invest in us and save us.”