WFP's beekeeping project helps alleviate poverty in Kandahar

KANDAHAR -- The World Food Programme (WFP) is supporting dozens of families without a breadwinner in Kandahar through beekeeping farms.

Eighty families in Arghandab district who lost their breadwinner in the war are benefiting from the year-long aid project.

The WFP project is implemented by local non-governmental organisation Co-ordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA).

Each family will receive beekeeping equipment worth 30,000 AFN ($341), the CHA representative in Kandahar, Mukhtar Ahmad Ehsas, told Salaam Times.

"The equipment includes a bee box, honey extraction machine, 25kg of sugar, a beekeeping suit, and some medicines for bees," he said. "This assistance will provide sustainable income for families that do not have a breadwinner."

The project started in Arghandab district and will expand to other parts of Kandahar, Ehsas said. "We trained these families for six months in beekeeping and they are now ready to work."

The project includes poultry farming, animal husbandry and home gardens that will be provided to widows and families without a breadwinner as well.

The WFP project will save impoverished families from poverty, said Mohammad Hamid, director of the Animal Husbandry unit in the Kandahar Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock.

"The climate in Arghandab is favourable for beekeeping and could yield positive results. On the one hand, these bee farms create employment for families that have no breadwinner, and on the other, they increase honey production in Kandahar," he noted.

"The project addresses the economic problems of impoverished families in a sustainable manner," he added. "These families will be able to provide for themselves for many years to come through beekeeping."

Professional beekeepers

The families who fell into poverty after losing their breadwinner in the war are excited about the prospect of becoming self-sufficient.

Sediqullah, 70, a resident of Arghandab, lost his two adult sons in the war, leaving him responsible for his eight orphaned grandchildren and two widowed daughters-in-law.

WFP has provided one bee farm to each of his son's families.

Not only does the assistance address his family's economic problems, but he can send his grandchildren to school with peace of mind, he said.

"The aid provided to our widows and orphans is very valuable," he said. "We have been suffering from severe poverty and economic problems. It pains me to see my grandchildren not having proper food to eat, but I am hopeful that this assistance will improve our lives."

"My plea to the aid agencies is to continue their support to the impoverished people of Afghanistan. In the current situation, the poor have no hope except assistance from aid agencies," he added.

Abdullah, 38, another resident of Arghandab, said that establishing bee farms is a great assistance that will enable him to provide for his family in the long term.

Abdullah lost his older brother four years ago in the war and is responsible for his brother's seven children.

"I was sick from poverty and unemployment, and finding dry bread had become a major concern for me," he said.

"Agricultural lands had no yields because of drought, while we have no other source of income. I am very happy to be getting a bee farm and will now be able to provide for my family," he said, proudly adding that he can now "professionally breed bees and collect honey".

Sustainable income

The United Nations (UN)'s infrastructure and agriculture projects in Afghanistan are providing sustainable income for impoverished Afghans, say economists.

UN assistance such as the beekeeping project addresses the economic problems of impoverished Afghans in the short run but additionally provides them a source of income in the long run, said Abdul Qadeer Noorzai, an economist in Kandahar city.

"Implementation of infrastructure projects is more effective than the aid that is distributed daily," he added. "Development projects, whether in reconstruction or agriculture, have provided thousands of jobs."

UN projects prevent the spread of poverty and unemployment, while creating hope for the future, Noorzai said.

"While these projects have addressed immediate needs, they also ensure future income."

In addition to the UN's cash and food assistance to the poor, infrastructure projects play a critical role in the future of Afghanistan, said Sayed Ashraf Sadaat, a civil society activist in Herat.

"Work on all large and small infrastructure projects stopped following the collapse of the previous government, leaving thousands without a job," he said.

"But the resumption of work on some paused projects and the launch of new ones by international aid agencies have reanimated the pulse of reconstruction in Afghanistan," he added.

"Given the growing economic crisis, poverty and unemployment, half of the country's population would have migrated to neighbouring countries had the UN not invested in infrastructure and development projects," Sadaat said.

"Aid by the UN and donor countries has saved Afghanistan from a catastrophe."