Kapisa Province
The project involved constructing the Nahar-e-Afghan Canal intake and (88) structures along the three main branches of the canal in the province. The project also required concreting a part of canal bed so that more water reaches the fields instead of seeping away into the ground. With the construction of Nahar-e-Afghan Canal Intake and other structures, Irrigation water now reaches 6500 hectares of land in Kapisa; before the new intake was built, only 55000 hectares of land could be irrigated. Over 100 villages with 5,572 house holds are benefiting from the project in Kapisa province.
Haji Abdul Qahar
72 year old Haji Abdul Qahar is a proud patriarch of a 25 member clan that spans three generations. The family owns 1 hectare of land at the tail of the canal in Kakawi village. Being a tail-ender, Abdul Qahar is one of those whose fields never get enough water. Where water is available, village fields are green with wheat, maize, barely, alfalfa, and beans, and a variety of fruits ripen in the orchards. But those whose lands are not irrigated, face meager harvests and are very poor.
During the fighting, Haji Abdul Qahar and his family fled to the safer central provinces of the country. In the village they left behind, the Russian Army reduced their house to rubble. When the Mujahideen took over, Abdul Qahar returned home and rebuilt his house of mud and clay as he couldn’t afford anything more fancy. But, when the Taliban came to power, the family again had to flee. It’s now been five years since the Taliban were defeated, and Abdul Qahar returned home with his family.
The first thing to be done on returning home was to restart agriculture so families could eat, recalls this wizened old man. “Most people in our village depend on agriculture in some way or other,” Qahar said. “So, to stand on our own feet, it was essential for us to boost our agricultural produce as much as we could.”
“But, when we got home after decades of war, we didn’t have enough water for our fields and couldn’t grow much because our crops would dry out before we could harvest them,” he added.
The community then approached the Government to help construct a canal intake from the Nahar Afghan Canal that flows nearby. “They accepted our request and built a proper concrete intake,” Qahar said.
“This year, after the new canal intake was built, we have been able to irrigate land that was not cultivable before,” beamed Qahar. “Now, no one has to wait for days to get irrigation water. Whenever we need water it is there for us to use - even at the tail of the canal. So, all our lands have been sown with crops.”
Waving a gnarled hand across the lush green fields and fruiting orchards that are benefiting from the project’s new construction, he adds, “This year, with Gods help, no one will face a shortage of wheat to feed their families. The harvest should be enough to last them for a whole year. And, they won’t have to buy wheat anymore, or borrow money to buy food.”
The project has also helped to reduce the number of conflicts by building a few structures that divide the water between villages. “Earlier, people always fought over water,” recalls Qahar. “But this year, for the first time, there have been no disputes on this issue,” he says proudly.
And displaying an elder’s abiding concern for the environment, he adds, “Earlier, we had to cut down many trees to rebuild the intake every time it was washed away by floods. Now, a lot of these trees will be saved.”
Haji Abdul Qahar praises the work done by Afghan Government and the World Bank in bringing water to village fields, and strikes a note of optimism about the future. “Now that there is peace in the country we are rebuilding our houses and the economy. We are still poor, but there is hope for improvement. What we want is a stable country.”
Malik Sher Agha
Malik Sher Agha is the representative from Shabazkhil village. As the cut and thrust of war changed fortunes several times over 25 long years, Agha and his 11 member family left their home many times to live in safer parts of the country. Agha has now returned to farm his 2 hectares of land; on this, he grows wheat, maize, barely, beans, vegetables as well as almonds, apricots, apples, and grapes. “I used to be a policeman,” he said, “but my land is my only source of income now.”
Agha is happy with the construction of the canal intake. “The concrete intake, the canal lining, and the proper division of water between communities have solved our problems considerably. There is now no conflict among the people, everybody is happy, and harvests are more abundant than ever before. Even at the tail end of the canal, people get enough water to irrigate their lands. After a gap of 30 years, some farmers have even begun growing rice along the canal,” he said, indicating the new abundance of water.
Agha is thankful to the Afghan Government and all those involved in the reconstruction of the village’s irrigation facilities. “Good work is always appreciated by the people. As most of our people are engaged in agriculture, this helps everyone. And we have tasted the fruits of it already,” he said.
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