Afghanistan to become self-sufficient in agriculture: caretaker gov't official

KABUL -- Afghanistan will soon reach self-sufficiency in agriculture as efforts are underway to help the country get rid of import reliance, Acting Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Ataullah Omari said Friday.

In an interview with the local TOLO News TV channel, Omari said that his country should change from an "import-reliant country" to an "export country".

"Over the past one-and-half or two years, we have had good progress in this regard, and we hope to provide Afghanistan's food material inside Afghanistan and become a country that exports instead of one that relies on imports," he told the TV channel.

According to Omari, managing underground water and other water sources, and preventing the outbreak of locusts on farmland are parts of his ministry's plan to help agriculture develop in the land-locked country.

Afghanistan has been facing an extreme water shortage due to years of drought and depletion of underground water.

Meanwhile, large-scale locusts have been spotted in the country's northern and northeastern provinces, which the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned could destroy up to 1.2 million metric tons of wheat in the country.