Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development-Access to International Markets
“CBARD-AIM”
Connecting Rural Farmers to Global Markets
Our CBARD-AIM project connects client farmers and agribusinesses in Nangarhar, Farah and Badghis provinces to national and international markets.
Program Overview
The project seeks to provide alternative high-value licit crops and thereby deter the cultivation of poppy in these provinces. CBARD-AIM instructs farmers in how to produce high-value fruits, nuts and vegetables, then add value to these products through improved sorting, grading and packaging. These higher quality, value-added products provide greater returns in higher-end regional and international markets.
Supplying better-quality products on a regular basis to international markets will increase incomes to the CBARD-AIM supported exporters and promote licit commercial activities in active poppy producing regions. The project will also enhance the human and institutional capacity of the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock (MAIL).
AgriBusiness Development Trainings
Business Skills Development:
Conducted trainings in Nangarhar, Kabul, and Farah addressing:
Business to Business (B2B) meetings between farmers and traders;
group business skills trainings for traders; one-on-one trader training to improve business performance;
group training for women-owned processors;
and Food Technology Training addressed food safety, automation, packaging, cold storage and distribution.
Supported the sale of 1,983 Metric Tons of Produce
Marketing Success
Domestic Sales
From Nangarhar: 413.9 metric tons (MT) of cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, melons, potatoes and watermelon sold to markets in Kabul, Balkh, Takhar, Khost, Paktia and Parwan provinces
From Farah: 1,015 MT cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, zucchinis and okra sold to Kabul, Ghazni, Nimruz, Khost, Kunduz, Nangarhar, Uruzgan, Helmand, and Kandahar provinces.
International Sales
From Badghis: exported 507 MT of raisins, cumin, watermelon seeds and pistachio to India, Jordan, Turkey and the UAE.
From Farah: exported 46.8 MT of cucumbers to Pakistan.
trained 286 farmers
on pre/post-harvest practices
Production and Quality Improvement
In Nangarhar:
provided technical assistance to 187 farmers and two government staff on pre/post-harvest practices;
surveyed 40 farmers on production practices and input supply needs;
linked farmers to input suppliers.
In Farah:
surveyed 20 farmers to identify production practices and agro-input needs;
linked farmers to reliable input markets.
In Badghis:
provided individual technical assistance and;
training to 99 farmers and 3 government staff.