KABUL, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- In an ambitious step to reduce dependency on foreign products and encourage Afghans to buy local fruits and grains, the government of Afghanistan with the support of farmers staged a three-day agricultural fair this week.
At the fair, reporters saw a variety of agricultural products on display in some 200 stalls here in Badam Bagh area to attract the attention of Afghans and foreign investors to invest in the war-hit country's agriculture sector.
"I can earn up to 35 tons of olive oil from my farm in the eastern Nangarhar province annually and if the government supports me to find market outside Afghanistan, I can double my product," Hajji Shukrullah, 40 told Xinhua.
Sitting in his stall and introducing his products to customers and visitors, Shukrullah shrugged that the olive oil produced by his company is the purest and best in the region.
The war-ravaged Afghanistan is an agricultural country as more than 70 percent of its population, according to officials are engaged in agriculture, livestock and gardening.
However, the country is largely depending on foreign aid, even major parts of their foodstuff and kitchen items are imported from foreign countries.
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said recently Afghanistan imports agricultural and dairy products worth 3 billion U.S. dollars annually.
The reason for huge import of foodstuff by Afghanistan, which is an agricultural country, as the president counted, is lack of support to farmers, lack of farming facilities and fertilizer seeds.
"I have put on display the products of my farm lands and garden which includes apple, pomegranate, grape, bean, cumin seeds and honey to find customers," another stallholder, Juma Khan, 55 from northern Badakhshan province told Xinhua.
"I have every kind of fruits from my garden but no cold storage to keep it," Juma Khan said, lamenting that lack of cold storage to keep his products forced him to sell them at cheaper price.
The price of one seer (7kg) apple presently is 200 Afghanis (3 U.S. dollars), Khan said, adding, "If the government provides springhouses for the farmers to keep their products, I can sell one seer (7Kg) apple up to 500 Afghanis in winter."
Afghanistan largely is a consuming country. In Afghan shops and even on the dining tables of ordinary Afghans, imported edible items are in bulk.
Dining table stuff including nan (Afghan flat bread) to milk, butter, yogurt, jam, tea and rice are imported.
"We can achieve self-sufficiency if the government supports local products and buy local products," a businesswoman Zarifa, 40, told Xinhua.
Zarifa who owns a small enterprise and supplies tomato sauce to market said that her small plant produces 500 bottle of sauce each week, and if the government supports her business, she would double and triple the producing capacity of her factory.
Meantime, spokesman for Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Lutfullah Rashid in talks with local media said Wednesday that the government plans to buy 40,000 metric tons surplus products of the farmers this year.
"Though buying local products, our countrymen can encourage the farmers to increase their products," Rashid argued.
