Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority

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Map of the Helmand River drainage basin including the Arghandab River tributary
Kajakai Dam on the Helmand River
, one of the major dams controlled by the HAVA

The Helmand and Arghandab Valley Authority (HAVA) based in

Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, originally named the Helmand Valley Authority (HVA) until its expansion in 1965,[1] was established on December 4, 1952, as an agency of the Afghan Government.[2] The agency was modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority in the United States,[3][4][5] with a remit covering lands in Farah Province, Ghazni Province, Helmand Province, Herat Province, and Kandahar Province.[2]

The HAVA is overseen by the Afghan

Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (previously the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation).[6]

History

The HAVA was created to manage the

grain and cotton[7] and was a major source of foreign exchange through exports.[8] The area of agricultural land under irrigation more than halved between 1979 and 2002 to around 1,500,000 hectares (5,800 sq mi), although this has since been increased.[9]

The project received major loans from the Export–Import Bank of the United States and, although around 20% of all Afghan Government expenditure went into funding the HVA and HAVA during the 1950s and into the 1960s,[2][3] it was generally seen as a US-led project.[2] It resulted, in the words of historian Arnold J. Toynbee in "a piece of America inserted into the Afghan Landscape. ... The new world they are conjuring up out of the desert at the Helmand River's expense is to be an America-in-Asia."[3]

2000s

In 2005, it was reported that, following a United States Agency for International Development funded project to build six reservoirs in Lashkar Gah, the HAVA would manage the provision of fresh water connections to the city's residents and the collection of the associated fees to keep the system maintained. The city had been without fresh water for the previous 30 years due to the contamination of the Helmand River.[10]

During the Helmand province campaign, the Operation Tethys initiative by the British Royal Engineers 170 (Infrastructure Support) Group led to repairs being carried out to the HAVA's irrigation systems between 2010 and 2012[11] at 30 sites.[12]

During 2011, it was reported that work was being started on a Helmand River Basin Study and Master Plan (HRBMP) to rebuild the capacity of the HAVA[13] with funding from the British Department for International Development.[14]

Present day

Today, the irrigation system managed by the HAVA is regarded as one of the country's most important capital resources[15] and vital for maintaining and expanding agricultural production in the region.[16]

As of March 2012, its director is Haji Khan Agha.[17]

Development

The development of the Helmand Valley was initiated by the Government of Afghanistan in 1946.

Morrison Knudsen, the builders of the Hoover Dam.[2] It resulted in one of the world's major desert irrigation schemes, with water supplied through the Boghra, Shamalan, and Darweshan canals.[18]

Government involvement

The US Government was officially involved in the project from 1949 until the Soviet invasion in 1979.[1] Between 1949 and 1971, the US financed eight dams on the Helmand River.[19] From 1960, the Agency for International Development and its predecessor, the Technical Cooperation Agency, spent $80 million assisting with 25 projects and the HAVA became a showcase for the US foreign aid program.[1][8]

The earliest initiatives to build a modern irrigation system in the region began in 1935, with financial support from the Japanese Government though until World War II.[1][20] The German Government had also provided assistance.[1]

Areas irrigated by the HAVA

In

Arghandab and Panjwayi in Kandahar Province.[1]

Issues

While the development of the Helmand valley resulted in considerable gains in agricultural production and raised average farm incomes tenfold, there have also been problems.

opium poppy, a crop which had been largely suppressed by the HAVA in the 1950s.[21]

Irrigation of the area has also significantly reduced the water flowing from the Helmand River into Lake Hamun and this, together with drought, has been cited as a key reason for the severe damage to the ecology of the lake region, much of which has degenerated since 1999 from a wetland of international importance into salt flats.[9][22]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j (pdf) The Helmand Valley Project in Afghanistan: A.I.D. Evaluation Special Study No. 18 C Clapp-Wicek & E Baldwin, United States Agency for International Development, published December 1983
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Report on Development of Helmand Valley, Afghanistan, 1956, Tudor Engineering Company
  3. ^
    JSTOR 3092171
    .
  4. ^ Curtis, Adam (13 October 2009). "Kabul: City Number One - Part 3". BBC. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  5. ^ Reconstruction And Opium Poppy Cultivation in Central Helmand: The Need For An Integrated Program Richard B. Scott, Conference on Afghanistan Reconstruction, University of Nebraska at Omaha, published 2008-10-03
  6. ^ Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors on the Proposed Loan and Technical Assistance to the Republic of Afghanistan for the Kajakai Gales Project in Afghanistan[permanent dead link] Asian Development Bank, published 1974-11-12
  7. doi:10.1063/1.52116. Archived from the original
    on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  8. ^ a b "Geology, Water, and Wind in the Lower Helmand Basin, Southern Afghanistan" (PDF). United States Agency for International Development. United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-28.
  9. ^ a b Making the Most of Afghanistan’s River Basins: Opportunities for Regional Cooperation, Matthew King & Benjamin Sturtewagen, EastWest Institute, published 2010, accessed 2012-05-11
  10. ^ "USAID Field Report Afghanistan Feb 2005". ReliefWeb. United States Agency for International Development. 28 Feb 2005. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  11. ^ Geological Society - Operation Tethys Geoscientist 21.06 July 2011
  12. Yorkshire Post. 18 March 2012. Archived from the original
    on 2016-03-07.
  13. ^ House of Commons - Defence Committee - Written Evidence prepared 2011-07-17
  14. ^ Stabilisation Case Study: Infrastructure in Helmand, Afghanistan (Experiences from Helmand 2008-2010) Archived 2012-10-30 at the Wayback Machine Department for International Development
  15. doi:10.1080/10106049809354643
    .
  16. ^ Helmand Annual Review 2010 Archived 2015-05-24 at the Wayback Machine Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team, Regional Command (South West) and the Regional Platform (South West), published 2011-03-12
  17. ^ Shively, L.A. (2012-03-01). "Summit on water conservation brings Afghan provincial leadership to the table". Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  18. ^ Owens, G.P. (December 15, 1971). "1970 Farm Economic Survey: Helmand and Arghandab Valleys of Afghanistan" (PDF). United States Agency for International Development. University of Wyoming. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-01.
  19. ISBN 9780416688306
    , published 1971
  20. ^ Helmand-Arghandab Valley Irrigation System - A Change Assessment: 1973 - 1990 Development Alternatives Inc & Earth Satellite Corporation, published February 1993
  21. ^ "Afghanistan's drug industry: Structure, functioning, dynamics and implications for counter-narcotics policy". ReliefWeb. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  22. ^ Weier, John (13 December 2002), From Wetland to Wasteland; Destruction of the Hamoun Oasis, NASA Earth Observatory, retrieved 11 May 2012

Further reading

  • Wolf, James; English, Richard; Haack, Barry (September 1994). "Rehabilitation Assessment of the Helmand-Arghandab Valley Irrigation Scheme in Afghanistan". Water International. 19 (3): 121–128.
    doi:10.1080/02508069408686215
    .
  • The Helmand Valley Project Institute for Afghan Studies

External links

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