The World Food Program (WFP), European Commission, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have funded the cultivation of jujube fruit trees on 350-hectare areas of Laghman hills. Local people in the province by praising the WFP programs say the process of cultivation of jujube fruit trees should be extended to other provinces to create work opportunities for the people. According to the people, the jujube fruit saplings should be raised in a better way as the yield of their first harvest will boost the people’s business and benefit the whole community. “The jujube fruit trees are able to withstand severe water deficits. If the respective international organizations extend the process of planting the jujube fruit saplings to areas where there are no trees planted, the people will get opportunities to work and the areas will get green,” said Ezatullah, a resident of Laghman province. According to Ezatullah, the jujube fruit trees are able to withstand water deficits and their plantation has lots of benefits. He asked the Islamic Emirate’s Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and Livestock to support the program and help farmers plant such trees in mountainous areas. Jujube is produced in temperate regions such as mountainous areas and valleys. According to farmers and orchard owners, jujube saplings should be planted in temperate mountainous areas. “Jujube trees are the evergreen trees that grow mainly in hot and dry mountainous regions. The honey produced from the flowers of the jujube tree is very expensive. With the plantation of the jujube trees, the honey farms will increase, the people will get jobs and the area will get green,” said Dadullah, another resident of Laghman. After the plantation of the jujube fruit trees on some hills in Laghman, the areas look evergreen and the people are happy. Local people say the hills look green. “Now that the jujube fruit tree have been planted on these hills, the whole area looks green and beautiful,” said Iqban Sapai, another resident of Laghman. He asked relevant international organizations to cooperate with the Islamic Emirate in greening and building the country. With the IEA takeover, the people particularly farmers and orchard owners are optimistic for their future as various agricultural programs have been implemented in the past two years in the country. Munir Ahmad Tanvir
War-torn hills in Laghman now covered with Jujube fruit trees
