KABUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Afghans celebrated the Farmer's Day falling on March 22 across the country, by holding ceremonies and displaying agricultural products and livestock.
The National Farmer's Day, which comes one day after Nawruz, the first day of the Afghan calendar year of 1396, is also a national holiday. This year's celebrations were affected by raining, however, most Afghans celebrated the day by taking part in ceremonies and planting trees across the country.
The Afghan government has taken measures to invest in agricultural sector to further create job opportunities for people and to boost economy in the land-locked central Asian state.
Earlier on Wednesday, to mark the day, the Afghan Ministry for Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock kicked off a three-day agriculture show at Badam Bagh locality in northwest side of Kabul city.
"On behalf of the government and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, I congratulate the National Farmer's Day to all Afghan farmers, and I hope that your achievements would be an inspiration for all Afghans to do their best for achieving self-sufficiency," Afghan Minister for Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Asadullah Zamir told the ceremony in Badam Bagh.
To boost the sector in the foreign-aid dependent country, the government has been encouraging local and foreign companies to invest in both agricultural and livestock industries.
Along with highlighting the importance of modernizing the agriculture system in the country, the minister also noted that the government is encouraging national and international companies to invest in the agriculture sector, including fish farming, poultry, building green houses as well as gardening.
Only 12 percent of Afghanistan is arable and less than 6 percent is currently being cultivated, in a country where over 80 percent of population relies on agriculture.
"The government is determined in supporting agriculture sector and more efforts are underway to build water dams, green houses, gardens and cold storage facilities across the country," said the minister.
War-ravaged Afghanistan has made tremendous achievements over the past couple of years and is close to achieving self-sufficiency, he said.
"With God willing, this year, farmers will produce more products as we had enough raining in the past winter. We are hopeful that farmers will also have more agriculture products for export to neighboring country and aboard," farmer Hayatullah told the ceremony.
"Agriculture is a key for bringing peace and stability. If we upgrade this sector, it would generate more jobs and more people would be employed, and it would be a key step for achieving peace," farmer Mustafa Uryakhel said.
"Afghanistan will become self-reliant in a couple of years in producing fruit, wheat, rice and cereals. But we need more support," he said.
Minister Zamir said the government is managing Afghan water resources, and modernizing the agricultural practices and overcoming gender stereotypes and encouraging the participation of both men and women in the field, which would enable the country to become self-reliant and see the export of agricultural products boosted significantly in coming years.
"This year's agriculture fair consists of 280 booths and 24 booths will be run by women," he said.
Three decades of war had a devastating impact on the agriculture sector, however, the country has witnessed a 2-percent economy growth in 2016, according to official statistics.
