Fruits of labours

Delivery of nursery equipment to Trio

The fourth of the seven ABIF first round grantees has just achieved a major project implementation milestone. Trio, a fruit nursery project in Balkh province has taken delivery of and completed the planting of some 150,000 saplings for sale next season in addition to the 150,000 that are already sold (50,000) or ready for sale (100,000) this year.

Trio came to us originally as an orchard and cold-storage project, but spotting the greater market development potential of a nursery supplying certified saplings to small farmers, we encouraged them to re-think the business model accordingly. As the proposal developed, it became clear that there was very promising commercial potential in importing mother stock and selling on semi-dwarf variety saplings in the north of Afghanistan. The saplings are supplied together with a drip irrigation and shading system that maximises yields and reduces water consumption.

The ABIF Investment Panel recommended that the cold-storage component was dropped, and with the new business model, this made perfect sense.

Meanwhile, we put the investor in touch with the Afghan National Nursery Growers Association, a sector association founded with the support of an EC financed project under the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock.

Working on the new nursery

As soon as the weather became warm enough, the nursery was established on 2.5 hectares of land, adjoining the current orchard owned by the same investor.

The successful implementation of the Trio project means that four of the first round projects are now well on track (the others being Al Hadi 786 pharmacy chain, the Herati Cashmere and Skins de-hairing line and collection centres and Naab Interiors computer assisted furniture production). The fifth (Saniazada Edible Oils) is expected to pass its main implementation milestone in the very near future and the remaining two are on track to make significant progress later this year. It is great to see such tangible results from the financial support provided by ABIF, and a pleasing reflection on the selection and process of the first round that all of the projects appear to be heading very firmly in the right direction.