Afghanistan harvests 5.15 mln metric tons of wheat, up 13.4 pct year on year

Afghanistan has achieved a wheat harvest of 5.15 million metric tons in the current year, marking a 13.4 percent increase year on year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock reported on Tuesday.

The crop was cultivated across 1.97 million hectares, equivalent to roughly 68 percent of the nation's arable land, according to the report.

Despite the stronger output, national wheat demand stands at 7.09 million tons for the current year, resulting in a residual shortfall of 1.94 million tons, the report asserted.

Last year, Afghanistan produced 4.54 million metric tons of wheat from 1.89 million hectares of irrigated and rain-fed farmland.

xinhua