Kandahar farmers replace poppies with pistachios

Farmers in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar have taken a solid step towards replacing poppy fields with pistachio plantations.

Local officials said that so far, 115 tons of pistachios have been harvested from 150 hectares of cultivated land.

They said pistachio farming is proving to be an effective alternative to poppies and that the local government is trying hard to encourage farmers to plant pistachio trees.

Most pistachio production occurs in countries with arid climates.

Turkey, Iran, Italy, and Syria are the principal pistachio producing countries, outside the United States and pistachio nuts are grown mainly for export in those countries.

Trees are also grown in Pakistan, Greece, India, and Australia.

According to some local farmers, they tend their pistachio orchards daily and employ between 30 and 60 workers.

Some farmers in Kandahar said however that establishing a pistachio orchard was costly and urged the Islamic Emirate government to assist them.

Officials from Kandahar’s Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock said pistachio farming was a good alternative to poppy cultivation. They in turn called on former poppy farmers to consider planting pistachio trees.

Pistachio trees can live up to 300 years, but they take five to seven years to begin producing nuts.

They are alternate-bearing, meaning that the harvest is heavier in some years than others.

Peak production is reached around 20 years.