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World Bee Day: Depending on the survival of bees

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(Last Updated On: May 21, 2021)

The UN General Assembly has designated May 20 as World Bee Day to raise awareness of the importance of bees, support for beekeeping and the effects of bee pollination on sustainable development of agriculture and food supply.

According to the UN, bees are under threat. Present species extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times higher than normal due to human impacts.

Close to 35 percent of invertebrate pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, and about 17 percent of vertebrate pollinators, such as bats, face extinction globally.

If this trend continues, nutritious crops, such as fruits, nuts and many vegetable crops will be substituted increasingly by staple crops like rice, corn and potatoes, eventually resulting in an imbalanced diet.

But government, farmers and ordinary citizens can play their part to make sure bees do not become extinct.

Individually people can plant a diverse set of native plants, which flower at different times of the year; buying raw honey from local farmers; buying products from sustainable agricultural practices; avoiding pesticides, fungicides or herbicides in our gardens; protect wild bee colonies when possible; make a bee water fountain by leaving a water bowl outside; and raising awareness by sharing this information within our communities and networks.

Beekeepers and farmers can also help by reducing, or changing the usage of pesticides; diversifying crops as much as possible, and/or planting attractive crops around the field.

Governments in turn can strengthen the participation of local communities in decision-making, in particular that of indigenous people, who know and respect ecosystems and biodiversity; enforcing strategic measures, including monetary incentives to help change; increasing collaboration between national and international organizations, organizations and academic and research networks to monitor and evaluate pollination services.

The number of beekeepers have meanwhile grown in Afghanistan over the past few years and today local honey production exceeds the two metric ton mark.

Akbar Rustami, director of information and spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), said recently that honey production reached 2,490 metric tons in Afghanistan last solar year.

According to Rustami, Paktia topped the list with 899 tons of honey, followed by Nangarhar with 500 tons and Khost with 416 tons, which are the most important honey producers in the country. Herat, Laghman, Badakhshan, Kunduz and Bamyan are also on the list of major honey producing provinces.

Rustami said recently that there are currently 6,757 large and small beekeeping farms across the country, most of them in Badghis, Herat, Badakhshan, Paktia, Kunduz, Daikundi, Bamyan, Logar, Sar-e-Pul, Farah, Maidan Wardak, Kapisa, Takhar, Baghlan and Khost provinces.

Rustami said that Badghis with 722, Herat with 593, Paktia with 550 and Badakhshan with 526 beekeeping farms are at the top of the beekeeping table.

Beekeeping is growing as a lucrative business and its products have a good domestic and foreign market.

One kilo of pure honey is sold in the domestic market from 500 to two thousand afghanis, depending on its type.

Meanwhile, the amount of honey production in 1398 had reached two thousand and one hundred tons, and this figure has increased by 390 tons in the past year.

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Ministry of commerce allocates land for oil refineries

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(Last Updated On: March 14, 2024)

Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi, said in a meeting with oil refinery officials that as soon as they are ready to invest, the ministry will establish an oil and gas industrial park.

In this meeting, refinery officials discussed problems regarding the Qashqari oil field and agreed that land should be provided. They said oil extracted from Qashqari needed to be refined through the standard process.

Azizi, while announcing the cooperation and support of the Islamic Emirate and especially the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the private sector of the country, said: “A joint proposal should be arranged and submitted to this ministry for the land of the refineries, and also if the officials of the refineries are ready to invest in the area of Dara-e-Hairatan, an oil and gas industrial park will be created and the land will be placed under their control.”

Azizi emphasized the need to increase the capacity of existing refineries and the quality of oil, shared the decision of the High Economic Commission regarding the establishment of a large refinery.

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Pakistan’s Federal Secretary of Commerce invited to visit Kabul

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(Last Updated On: March 11, 2024)

Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nooruddin Azizi, has invited Pakistan’s Federal Secretary of Commerce Mohammad Khurram Agha to visit Kabul.

In a virtual meeting, the two sides discussed the progress made in the last two and a half years in the country, the increase in trade between the two countries, solving problems and removing trade and transit barriers.

They also discussed the need for more facilities, establishing close relations between the governments and private sectors of the two countries and boosting regional cooperation, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said in a statement Monday.

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Headline inflation in Afghanistan down to -10.2% in January: World Bank

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(Last Updated On: March 11, 2024)

In January 2024, headline inflation experienced a significant downturn, reaching -10.2 percent on a year-on-year basis, the World Bank said in a report.

This substantial drop was largely due to a sharp decline in prices across both food and non-food categories, the report said.

Moreover, core inflation, which strips out the typically volatile food and energy sectors, also fell into negative territory, posting a rate of -6.5 percent on year-on-year basis.

“This ongoing core deflation reflects a troubling inability of both private and public sectors to stimulate sufficient demand. While this period of falling prices may offer temporary financial relief to the most vulnerable households by reducing the cost of living, it can also harm the broader macroeconomy,” the World Bank said.

According to the bank, Afghanistan’s exports contracted by 5 percent on year-on-year basis to $140.5 million in January 2024, down from $148.1 million the previous January.

Food exports to India jumped by 22 percent, compared to an 18 percent decline in Pakistan. Pakistan and India continued to be the top export destinations, claiming 45 percent and 34 percent of the total exports in January 2024, respectively.

The 2023 growth trend in imports extended into January 2024, hitting $830 million, up 37 percent from $600 million in January 2023.

According to the report, in 2023, the afghani (AFN) saw a significant 27 percent appreciation against the US dollar, buoyed by the influx of around $1.8 billion in UN cash shipments and an estimated $2 billion in remittances.

Revenues have been below the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) target during the first eleven months of FY2024, with border taxes underperforming despite a surge in imports.

Over the eleven-month span of FY2024, from March 22, 2023, to February 21, 2024, Afghanistan’s revenue collection reached AFN 189 billion, narrowly missing the target by 2 percent but marking a 5.6 percent increase from the previous fiscal year, the report said.

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