Water for agriculture: challenges and opportunities in a war zone

Abstract

Wars, drought and social collapse have greatly impaired land management and agriculture production systems in the southeastern Afghanistan provinces of Khost, Paktika and Paktya. This region has long existed with limited central government influence and remains particularly unstable. A complex physical and social geography, on-going warfare, severely limited mobility and policies poorly adapted to regional realities hamper development and reconstruction. On-farm water efficiency improvement, watershed-scale work restricted to small, socially homogeneous watersheds and word-of-mouth Afghan-to-Afghan technology dissemination are particularly important development strategies in this environment.

Keywords:

• community-based natural resource management
• Indus watershed
• insurgency
• military
• stabilization
• sustainable agriculture

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to recognize logistical support provided by military and civilian personnel with Task Forces Currahee, Rakkasans and Yukon. The support of the USAID-funded Afghanistan Water Agriculture and Technology Transfer project is also gratefully acknowledged. The manuscript has benefitted from the comments of J. Schoonover, K. Williard and an anonymous reviewer. The opinions stated in this paper are strictly those of the authors and are not intended to represent those of any government or organization.