KABUL: The country’s Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Ministry (MAIL) has begun the revival of pistachio forests, as it kicked off the plantation of thousands of saplings in northern Samangan province, the ministry said in a statement.
The move is part of a plan, the country, made to revive the pistachio forests in most parts of the mountainous province, with seasonal rain feeding them, according to the statement.
“Up to 100,000 pistachio bushes, costing 48 million afghani would be planted all over the mountains and hills of the Aibak city, the provincial capital of Samangan province,” according to the source.
The project is said to help at least 1,000 people access direct jobs for six months in the province.
Afghanistan’s agriculture ministry has earlier kicked off cultivation of thousands of pistachio saplings in the neighboring Sar-e-Pul province, part of its effort to boost agriculture in the land-locked nation.
Many provinces such as Samangan, Sar-e-Pul, Badghis, Jauzjan and Badakhshan have proper hilltops for growing pistachio and pine nuts in mountainous Afghanistan.
The Kabul Times
