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PRECIOUS RESOURCE Khak Rajab hauls up water from a well in the mountain village of Qadam Joy in northern Afghanistan: the water is scarce and contaminated
SAREPUL, AFGHANISTAN
On the outskirts of the northern town of Sarepul is a rather unusual sight in Afghanistan these days: a small-scale irrigation system that is functioning.
Part of a strong running river has been diverted to irrigate crops on a hillside terrace.
“There were plans to extend the system, but these were interrupted by war,” says Noridin, a tall wheat farmer with a flowing salt-and-pepper beard.
The river sustains people living as far as half a day’s donkey ride away.
A 2-hour jolting drive in a Land Cruiser through a valley of wheat fields lined with poplars and cherry trees, across shallow river beds, and up rounded, sandy mountains leads to the isolated village of Qadam Joy. Women and children on donkeys pass in the opposite direction, with large tin containers to be filled from the river.
ADB believes that rehabilitating small-and medium-scale traditional irrigation systems will be one of the fastest ways to restore rural livelihoods, as gravity-driven systems can be managed independently by the communities and do not rely on electricity or dams.
“ADB looks to play a significant role in rehabilitating Afghanistan’s agricultural and rural livelihood systems. Judicious management of natural resources, particularly water, will be crucial to sustaining this effort,” says Allan T. Kelly, Project Economist in the Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources Division, ADB’s South Asia Department.
“We would like to help the Government develop a river basin approach to manage water resources, as well as reestablish and strengthen community capacity to take ownership and manage irrigation systems.”
To initiate this, ADB is providing technical assistance to develop strategic and development planning capacity in the ministries responsible for agriculture, water and other natural resources, and rural development.
ADB expects to begin next year assistance to rehabilitate irrigation systems. In the medium term, ADB looks to play a broader role in agriculture and rural development.
A village of a few hundred inhabitants, Qadam Joy is one of 600 settlements in this beautiful but desolate area that relies solely on snow and rain-fed irrigation.
Some 85% of Afghanistan’s population lives in rural areas, depending on agriculture and livestock, but a 4-year drought has wiped out many farmers’ crops and herds.
ADB expects to begin assistance to rehabilitate some of the country’s irrigation systems next year (see box).
People as well as nature have been inhospitable in the north. Conflict and lack of rain drove thousands from the mountains to other parts of the country, including settlement camps. Since peace was restored in late 2001, many have returned, trying to start lives anew.
Hauling up a bucket from one of the wells is an elderly woman with deep-set eyes. Khak Rajab says, “I have to walk 15 minutes from the village four or five times a day to this well. We have sick people, we have blind people, we have handicapped people. We go back and forth all day.”
She points to the contents of the tin bucket, in which tiny tadpole-shaped creatures are swimming.
“The water is dirty, and sometimes we get sick from it,” she adds. “We’ll run out of water soon. Those who don’t have access to a well have to send their children to Sarepul to get drinking water. The children leave early in the morning and come back in the evening.”
“Some 1.8 million refugees have returned to the north and want to take up farming again, but they lack assets and capital for sustainable maintenance,” says Donneth Walton, an ADB Senior Rural Development Specialist.
In Qadam Joy, the problems are all too evident.
"Some 1.8 million refugees have returned to the north and want to take up farming again, but they lack assets and capital for sustainable maintenance"
- Donneth Walton ADB Senior Rural Development Specialist
Along a dusty trail a few hundred yards from the village lies its only supply of water, some 50 underground wells, fed by rain and snow. Due to the drought, only 20 are operating, and these are nearly empty.
Nongovernment organizations (NGOs) are trying to breathe new life into such ailing villages. In Qadam Joy, a Japanese NGO, Peace Winds, is designing and building small dams to capture and store snowfall and rainwater from mountain ravines.
“The villagers are entirely reliant on rainwater because the groundwater is too deep—around 1,000 meters—and of poor quality,” says Patricia Garcia, the Australian head of Peace Winds in Afghanistan. “Although we had a little rain in 2002, it was soon consumed. There is certainly not enough water to support a growing population.”
HUGE EFFORT Children often make the daylong journey to the nearest town of Sarepul to collect water for their families
At one end of Qadam Joy stands a nearly completed school, another Peace Winds project. Erecting it was a logistical challenge, according to engineer Fazel Rahman. “It’s difficult building in a remote location with such bad roads. We had to bring in water by truck along with the construction materials, such as sand, gravel, and cement,” he says. “Bringing in skilled labor was also a problem, as workers didn’t want to stay in such a faraway place.” The school, along with the dams that will be built, is providing hope for the next generation. Says community leader Gulam Naby, “Three of my children will go to this school, and I hope the girls will become teachers and stay and work here.”
The concrete school, which can accommodate 550 pupils, will enable classes to move from the United Nations Children’s Fund tents, which are limited in space and are cold in winter.
Sitting in her home, one mother says she is happy that her five children will have a school that is “cleaner and more spacious, with more teachers.”
A large group of schoolgirls in colorful garb gathers to sing farewell to a group of visitors. Steeped in Afghanistan’s conservative culture, the girls are shy and either stop singing or hold books up to their faces if a photographer gets too close.
But, thanks to the efforts of an NGO, they will soon get the chance of an education better than what their parents had.
Not far from the village, at the bottom of a steep valley, lies a largely intact shell of a tank. It is a reminder that the armed conflict may have ended, but the war on want is far from over.
Find out more about ADB's activities in Afghanistan
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