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KABUL, 10 February 2009 (IRIN) - A simple water-saving system will be made available at low cost to Afghan farmers in the near future to help them efficiently irrigate farmland and boost yields.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has allocated US$1.5 to introduce the system in Afghanistan.
"Hydroflumes save all of the water that normally transits through secondary earth canals where up to 30 percent is lost through seepage and line theft," Loren Staddard, director of USAID's alternative development and agriculture project in Kabul, told IRIN.
The system is designed to increase domestic crop production through the efficient distribution of water to crops alone - not weeds and wasteland, and can be hooked up to canals or deep wells.
Afghanistan has lost much of its irrigation infrastructure in armed conflicts over the past three decades. Recurrent natural disasters, mostly drought, have also caused extensive damage to agriculture, the prime source of income for most Afghans.
"Scarcity of water is our biggest problem," said Amanullah, a farmer in southern Kandahar Province.
The country lost 80 percent of its rain-fed agriculture because of a severe drought in 2008 and many farming households were pushed into acute food insecurity as a result.