Thanks to Adstockistan, Afghanaid will be providing 9 families with 50-100 persimmon trees each (a whole orchard!) Thank you so much!
The trees are currently being planted, with many already in the ground. Women-headed households are being prioritised, with 6 of the 9 families being headed by women.
The other 3 families, though headed by men, were chosen as they are severely impoverished. The families are in Shuhada, Baharak and Jurm districts in Badakhshan. In these areas, finding work can be extremely difficult, even for men, and their families – especially women – feel the consequences. It’s these families that Afghanaid have worked with first, as it can often take longer to identify and start working with women.
Afghanaid will be delivering and planting their trees to the other 6 families in the next 1-2 weeks.
All 9 families are receiving training in how to look after their trees as well as how to market the produce for sale. They have already been trained in land preparation and good cultivation of persimmon trees; April and May will see a focus on long-term tree management and marketing.
Persimmon trees take around 3 years to mature. When they do, they’ll produce around 30-35 kg of fruit per tree. Most of the fruit will be sold in local markets, where they fetch around Afs 70 per kilo. The income will transform the lives of these farmers, allowing them to buy better quality food for their children, medical care, and education.
But the impact of the trees will begin from the moment they are planted, as together each orchard is the first defence against soil erosion and climate change, contributing to preventing the floods and landslides which so frequently devastate Badakhshan.
