|
The establishment of six Perennial
Horticultures Development Centres (PHDC) across Afghanistan is one of the main activities of
the European Commission funded project PHDP.
Perennial Horticulture Development Centres (PHDC) are established in six regional
centres in
Kabul, Herat,
Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Jalalabad and Kandahar.
MAIL and NGO staff training farmer training and extension; and applied research
in perennial horticulture and related subjects. These centres will be part of
the MAIL system and will act as regional or zonal centres. Other donors are
invited to participate in the use of these facilities. The NGO implementing
partners will be free to implement activities in any part of Afghanistan suitable for perennial horticulture production.
The purpose of the PHD Centres is
to provide the Afghan
State with the required basic
knowledge and technical tools to ensure the institutional support needed for the
development of the sector. In one hand a)
PHD Centres activities will make possible the establishment of quality
regulations in the sapling market and b) they will also contribute, as a primary
source of advance cropping techniques, to support the development of Extension
Services in the area of Fruit and Nuts production.
a) The Centres are responsible for
the technical works conducting to the establishment of a National Catalogue of
Varieties and of a primary supply of true to type and disease free varietal
material to the nursery sector. Several steps are foreseen:
1 - Identification of individual
trees and establishment of a National “In Situ Collection”.
2- Establishment of “Ex situ”
collections to evaluate and identify through DUS and Agronomical Value tests the
material collected from step one.
3 – Establishment of Catalogue
listing the retained varieties in step two, and custody of the “elite” clones
representing the different varieties.
4- Publication of Varieties
descriptions to make possible the establishment of nursery certification of
true-to type saplings.
5-
Virus testing and cleansing to provide nucleus nurseries with virus free true to
type material (this step could start simultaneously with step 3).
b) The Centres are establishing
Demonstrations Orchards aimed to the training of extensionists. The DO aim to
demonstrate proper and advance cropping techniques, as orchard design,
irrigation, pruning, fertilising, IPM etc
The Centres are managed by a PHDP Field Horticulturist
locally recruited by PHDP under supervision and permanent training by PHDP
technical advisors based in Kabul. MAIL has assigned 4 technicians of its local staff to each centre for
an intensive training in PHD activities during the life period of PHDP.
To see the actvities of each PHD Centre click the bellow links
Perenniual Horticulture Development
Centre Kabul (Badam Bagh)
Perenniual Horticulture Development
Centre Jalalabad (Farm-i-Jadid)
Perenniual Horticulture Development
Centre Kunduz (Markz-i-Kunduz)
Perenniual Horticulture Development
Centre Mazar-i-Sharif (Deh Dadi)
Perenniual Horticulture Development
Centre Herat (Urdo Khan)
Perenniual Horticulture Development
Centre Kandahar (Kokaran)
|