April 30, 2007, New York, NY – Beginning this March, 50 farm families launched the project in 35 village communities. Each farmer planted more than 8,000 poplar cuttings for a combination of woodlot and nursery businesses. These businesses provide both annual income for farmers from the sale of poplar cuttings and saplings and highly lucrative longer term income from the sale of timber. Together, these income streams are expected to produce enough funds to rival the income generated from poppies. In addition, a further 377 farmers including 116 women received cuttings and saplings, which together with 5 small demonstration farms, brought the total number of trees planted to almost ½ million (497,273).
For the past three years, Global Partnership for Afghanistan has worked with farmers to create demonstration poplar woodlot businesses. In March 2007, 24 farmers harvested 188,000 cuttings of ultra-fast-growing poplar from their nurseries for use by the new USAID-supported project, providing a source of immediate income averaging $795 per farmer. One farmer grossed as much as $2,140. More than 100 additional farmers will be trained to participate in poplar production and woodlot business development by the end of 2008.
As a result of the two-year project, farmers will plant some 800,000 poplars in 100 new woodlot businesses this year and next. However, each poplar nursery tree can produce a minimum of 3-5 cuttings per year harvested for sale or out-planting. At least 1.5 million trees are expected to be produced by the end of 2008 hugely benefiting the village and rural environment.
A key goal of the project is to develop successful woodlot businesses. Farmers are trained both in technical skills and in developing business plans.
Kaka Akram, a woodlot owner in Logar, says, "Hybrid poplars from Oregon, USA are awesome, people like them and they earn a lot of money."
To fund this work, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded a two-year, $667,400 grant to the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) and the Global Partnership for Afghanistan (GPFA).