Based on our experience and the information we received from orchard owners the main problems in citrus orchards start from the beginning. The farmers dont know;
- which species and variety of citrus to grow
- how to plant citrus saplings,
- how to irrigate, fertilize, and weed and which intercrop to grow
- IPM of citrus
Based on the above mentioned problems we run an information center (booth) during saplings sale season in Jalalabad market where we shared our ideas and experiences with farmers.
The following activities were carried out in the information center:
- Introduction of new varieties to farmers (via broacher, banners, pictures, videos and ANNGO catalogue)
- Training farmers how to properly plant citrus saplings (via broacher and videos)
- Training farmers how to properly care after planting citrus saplings (via broacher and videos)
- Linking farmers to SO4 and PHDC-JAL
A key element for the success of the establishment of the orchards is the quality of the saplings provided to farmers and the knowledge of growing citrus. In this context ANHDO under it specific Objective 1: working with the Afghan private sector nursery industry and its associated organizations to improve their capacity in certified saplings production. Our main purpose of running this information center is to increase the capacity of farmers regarding the certified citrus saplings and eventually the farmers will start asking the nursery growers for certified saplings and the nursery growers have to supply the demanded saplings. In this way production and planting of certified citrus saplings will increase.
The Info Center was very successful and many farmers get benefit of this unit. During these two months almost 1200 individuals visited and benefited from the Info Center and among these 200 were agriculture faculty and institute students.
