History of Dushti Qurogh Nursery Farm, Faizabad

In October 2002, Concern Afghanistan established a nursery farm in Dushti Qurogh, located in the sixth sub-district of Faizabad City, northeast Afghanistan.  The nursery covers five acres of land which was given to Concern by the Government of Afghanistan for a period of seven years.  In October 2002, the land was bare, had never been cultivated, and the soil infertile.  Since then, Concern has created a nursery farm which consists of fruit and non-fruit trees, and vegetables in order to produce nutritious food for the poor people of Faizabad.  While this is the main purpose of the nursery (to provide free healthy food to the absolute poor), Concern has also embarked upon creating a modern garden with a variety of plants and trees for the government to receive upon the completion of the contract.  As the garden was given to Concern free of charge, Concern wanted to give something back in the form of a beautiful garden to show their appreciation for the government’s cooperation.

Produce

At the start of the project, Concern’s food security staff surrounded the area with angle iron and wire.  After the utilization of chemical fertilizers and animal manure, the land gradually became suitable for tillage.  At the time of writing (December 2005), Concern has planted several fruit trees (apples, pear, apricot, peaches, walnut, mulberry, fig, grape vines, pomegranate, service tree) and non-fruit trees (Acacia, Russian willow, Cercis, Poplar, Plane, Cattlepaw).  In addition, Concern grows many vegetables including potato, tomato, onions, cucumber, chilli peppers, watermelons, melons, and cauliflowers.

Simultaneously, Concern has constructed an office building on the land, as well as concrete stairs to ensure easy access to all areas of the nursery, and water irrigation systems (the current irrigation system in place pumps water from the Kokcha river in Faizabad through the assistance of a generator up to the nursery).  At present, the nursery only produces during the summer season, but Concern are constructing a plastic greenhouse in order to ensure that produce will be generated in the harsh Afghan winters.

Distribution

From 2002 to 2004, the nursery technicians grew approximately 50,000 fruit and non-fruit saplings.  At the end of 2004/beginning of 2005, there was a vast distribution of 30,000 saplings to poor households, governmental institutions, mosques, and schools, etc.  In 2006, it is projected that around 20,000 saplings will be worthy for similar distributions.  Meanwhile, Concern’s nursery staffs aims to sew fruit seeds and produce more than 30,000 saplings over the next few years.
 
Furthermore, the produce from the nursery is distributed among the absolute poor.  From June to September in 2003, 2004 and 2005, single-headed households (women), the disabled and beggars received a variety of nutritious produce including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, chillies, melon and watermelons.  However in 2005, no melons or watermelons were distributed due to strong hail which subsequently destroyed them.

In 2005, the following amount of vegetables grown from the nursery, were divided among the number of absolute poor families:

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