Afghanistan produced 2,170,973 liters of milk in 1399 (solar year), said a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock on Sunday, April 11.
Faryab, Baghlan, Takhar, Maidan Wardak, Herat, Balkh, Kandahar, Kunduz, and Samangan provinces have made a large contribution to milk production in the previous year, the statement said.
With 618 dairy farms, southern Kandahar ranks as the top milk-producing province in the country, followed by Herat, Kabul, Nangarhar, Paktia, Ghazni, and Laghman.
Afghanistan needs a total of 2.9 million liters of milk per year. The country imports nearly one million liters of milk from neighboring Pakistan, Iran, and the central Asian countries.
Land-locked Afghanistan is an agricultural country that is apt for livestock and cattle raising. But decades of war coupled with periodic drought have affected the country’s agriculture negatively.
For the time being, as many as 1,819 dairy farms are actively functional across the country.