Training underway at the Beekeeping Centre in Takhar, Afghanistan.
AKDN / Farzana Wahidy
Training underway at the Beekeeping Centre in Takhar, Afghanistan.
AKDN / Farzana Wahidy
Training underway at the Fruit Processing Centre in Takhar - In rural Afghanistan, the Aga Khan Foundation provides industry-relevant vocational training for men and women -- many of whom are refugee returnees -- to increase their employability and entrepreneurship.
AKDN / Farzana Wahidy
Training underway at the Fruit Processing Centre in Takhar - In rural Afghanistan, the Aga Khan Foundation …
AKDN / Farzana Wahidy
In rural Afghanistan, the Aga Khan Foundation conducted over 630 Integrated Crop Management Campaigns across its target regions to promote sustainable agricultural production. Over 27,500 farmers (32% women) benefited from these campaigns, which included the promotion of pruning, grafting, budding, and pest control.
AKDN / Farzana Wahidy
In rural Afghanistan, the Aga Khan Foundation conducted over 630 Integrated Crop Management Campaigns across …
AKDN / Farzana Wahidy
Trainees learn how to produce raw honey at the Honey Processing Centre in Takhar, Afghanistan. In 2017, more than 1,100 young men and women (78% women) received market-driven vocational training in 14 different areas including construction, service, handicraft and agriculture. Some 75% of the trainees have found jobs or started their own businesses.
AKDN / Farzana Wahidy
Trainees learn how to produce raw honey at the Honey Processing Centre in Takhar, Afghanistan. In 2017, more …
AKDN / Farzana Wahidy
Afghanistan | Agriculture and Food Security
The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) has been active in Afghanistan since 2002, assisting with natural resources management and rural infrastructure construction.
710,000
In 2025, around 710,000 people benefited from AKF's agriculture and food security work in Afghanistan
A worker opens the channel that brings water to a micro-hydel unit in the village of Khaftar Khana, Badakshan.
AKDN / Sandra Calligaro
Agriculture and Livestock Productivity
To address spatial poverty, we help people organise into Common Interest Groups and develop common productive assets such as irrigation channels and roads, as well as individual assets such as greenhouses, orchards, poultry farms, livestock, animal sheds and storage facilities. In 2025, around 650,000 people used infrastructure constructed by AKF or partners in Afghanistan.
Our emergency support addresses the needs of farmers affected by food insecurity due to ongoing drought, ban in poppy cultivation and economic crisis.
The programme has reached more than 2.1 million beneficiaries through its work in field crops and horticulture, land and water management, and livestock.
AKDN / Sandra Calligaro
Enabling Infrastructure and Input Supply Systems
We enhance community access to social services, create economic opportunities, support agricultural initiatives and strengthen community resilience.
We:
- build local community-based input supply systems;
- strengthen and rehabilitate private input suppliers in remote areas, which provide improved seed varieties, fertilisers, pesticides, agricultural equipment, training and technical services, such as pruning;
- provide crop inputs such as improved root-stock and saplings to farmers through local vendors, contributing to increases in the average productivity of wheat (58 percent), potato (25 percent), apple (116 percent) and vegetables (25 percent) since 2005; and
- facilitate connections with key suppliers in the supply chain.
AKDN / Sandra Calligaro
Resource Management
With around 80 percent of the Afghan population deriving their income from agriculture, interventions in this sector are central to reducing poverty rates. In 2025, AKF reached more than 710,000 people through its work in field crops and horticulture, land and water management, and livestock.
To promote sustainable management of natural resources such as pastures, rangelands and woodlands, and enhance community-level resilience to climate change, AKF has trained Community Development Councils to implement common property resource plans. These plans are complemented by land treatment measures that redress the extensive denudation of watersheds and rangelands, creating climate-smart watersheds that can adapt to changes in temperature and precipitation.
We have also established Livestock Development Centres and associated Livestock Development Field Units, which have provided access to animal health services for more than 1.2 million people. Livestock farmers in target areas have reported a 65 percent reduction in animal mortality and morbidity, and farmers reported a 35-40 percent increase in milk and meat production and 25 percent increase in herd size.