November 2009

Under the Community Development Agriculture Program in Paktia, Paktika, Khost, and Southeast Ghazni (CDA-P2K) project, VEGA, through its implementing partner ACDI/VOCA, successfully implemented the Alfalfa Seed Voucher Program in the complex region of central southeast Afghanistan.  

The project, in consultation with USAID, identified alfalfa as the crop with the greatest opportunity to provide economic opportunities for project farmers.  Alfalfa has this potential because of both the P2K region's large permanent population of livestock and small ruminant animals and the Kuchis peoples' migratory herding lifestyle and traditional trade routes, which bring an additional influx of small ruminant animals. To establish connections and build the capacity of local agricultural retailers, ACDI/VOCA conducted the voucher program through 12 project-established Farm Stores, located throughout the P2K region.  The project distributed 1,000 vouchers to each of the 12 Farm Stores that farmer beneficiaries could exchange for a seven kilogram bag of alfalfa seed to plant one jerib, about half an acre, of land. Dependent upon the area and growing season, each farmer is expected to have a minimum of two cuttings. This will result in 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of alfalfa per farmer for a total of approximately 24,000 to 36,000 tons of alfalfa to be produced in the first year. 

Given the large number of livestock and small ruminant animals in the P2K region, herders struggle each year to provide adequate feed for their livestock and animals, especially during the harsh winter months. In order to address this problem, the Alfalfa Seed Voucher Program incorporated a "buy in" methodology, where each voucher recipient returns 300 kilograms of dried Alfalfa back to the Farm Stores. The farm stores will be able to sell this feed for a profit and herders will have a guaranteed source to find high quality forage feed for their animals. The program's innovative design helps combat livestock and animal feed deficiency while simultaneously generating income for 12,000 farmers and increasing the capacity and viability of the Farm Stores.