Improved Cucumber Variety Increases Yield for Female Farmer

Ms. Saera, a farmer in Shakar Dara district of Kabul Province, lost her husband in a bomb blast in Kabul nine years ago. With a son and two daughters, she had to become her family’s sole earner. With her three jerribs of land in her village, she was planting and harvesting vegetables but even though her farm was producing, she was not happy with her yields, which were giving her just 32,000-43,000 AFS per harvest, which was not enough to pay for her home and fully support her family.

A neighbor referred her to the Kabul Women’s Farm Service Center (KWFSC), which provides products and service specifically tailored to Afghan women. Working with the all-female staff, who provided her with product information and technical assistance, she chose vegetable hybrid seeds and received training on how and when to plant, how to prepare the land for planting and how to irrigate it.

Today, Ms. Saera’s yields have increased, and she was able to sell her product for higher prices in the Kabul market. Her income now tops 75,000 Afs, a 50% increase in her income. “If I get such a good income in every harvest, I will have no trouble supporting and feeding my family,” she said. Now she is a regular customer of the KWFSC, where she finds the seeds she needs at affordable prices.

By facilitating distribution of quality products, improving production, and supporting market linkages throughout the value chain, CNFA and USAID are promoting long-term economic growth in rural farming communities throughout Afghanistan.