Afghanistan is expected to produce 4.5 million tonnes of wheat this year, the country’s agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.
The government intends to import 2 million tonnes of wheat this year, the ministry’s spokesman Akbar Rustami said.
Last season, Afghanistan produced around 5,000 tonnes of wheat, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Rustami said that wheat production has decreased in some provinces in south and east of the country.
There are also provinces where production has increased. For example in northern Badghis, wheat production has increased by 12 percent this year, according to the provincial agriculture department.
Wahidullah Amani, a spokesman for World Food Program, farmers in Afghanistan will not have a good harvest this year.
More than 60 percent of households in Afghanistan derive income from agriculture. The contributions ofagricultureto the country’s gross demotic product is nearly 25 percent.
