From the American People
This project began in late 2008 as a $60 million one-year project with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance designed in close cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and jointly funded by USAID, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA), and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) to address the 2008 food crisis. Vouchers were provided to selected farmers (the vulnerable but viable) across 18 northeastern, northern, central, and western provinces entitling farmers to pay only a basic cost-share of 15 percent for improved wheat seed and fertilizer. In June 2009, AVIPA was expanded into AVIPA-Plus, where a second wheat seed and fertilizer voucher activity was conducted in the same 18 provinces — though the co-pay was increased to 35 percent — and a stabilization component was added to support coalition efforts in Hilmand and Kandahar provinces. The project’s value increased to $360 million, and stabilization activities include agriculturally-based “hold” activities such as vouchers for horticultural seeds and tools, cash-for-work activities, and grants-in-kind to cooperatives. In August 2010, MAIL requested and received a third wheat seed and fertilizer distribution on a national basis; AVIPA-Plus carried out the distribution, expanding to cover 31 provinces (the Japanese – through FAO, and the UK – through DFID, covered the remaining three), and stabilization activities continued in Hilmand and Kandahar provinces. Additional extensions have now increased the AVIPA-Plus budget to its current $474 million. The majority of the project ended in June 2011, but the stabilization work – primarily cash-for-work activities and voucher package distribution – will continue in Kandahar and Hilmand provinces until November 2011.
AVIPA Plus Fact Sheet-2/9/2011
23 January 2012 | Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan
Three decades of war have brought tremendous economic pressure on Afghan households. While men are USAID/AVIPA Plus/IRD Women from Lashkar Gah...
20 November 2011 | Hilmand, Afghanistan
When Sairah, a 38-year-old Afghan housewife, heard that short-term jobs for women were opening in her “You cannot make bread...
21 November 2011 | Kandahar, Afghanistan
When Amir Ahmad was a child, he picked up an unexploded Soviet grenade, thinking it was a toy. He doesn’t USAID/AVIPA Plus...
18 August 2011 | Kandahar, Afghanistan
IRD/AVIPA Plus/USAID “You can tell just by looking that these are better cucumbers. But the real difference is the taste. They’re becoming very popular...
3 August 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
IRD/AVIPA Plus/USAID U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry and Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Mohammad Asif Rahimi meet with a farmer who is purchasing...
16 August 2011 | Kandahar, Afghanistan
IRD/AVIPA Plus/USAID District Governor Hajji Abdul Ghani (second from left) and elders from three area villages inaugurate the opening of the Robat Road with...
1 March 2011 | Hilmand Province, Afghanistan
Photo credit: IRD/AVIPA Plus “Poppy took my sons away from me. They used to smoke it in secret and neglected the land and the...
28 February 2011 | Kapisa Province, Afghanistan
Photo credit: IRD/AVIPA Plus Shah Mohammed demonstrates his family’s new two-wheel tractor. The tractor will enable Mohammed and his five brothers to cultivate an...
16 November 2010 | Hilmand Province, Afghanistan
For the past eight months, farmers in the southern Afghan district of Marja have lived in fear of accepting government or foreign aid. Assassinations, road...
10 November 2010 | Kandahar, Afghanistan
Sardar Mohammad has been a sheepherder for most of his life. Now he works for the government, shepherding a different type of flock. As Kuchi...
15 May 2010 | Marja, Hilmand Province, Afghanistan
USAID, through its Afghanistan Vouchers for Increased Production in Agriculture Plus (AVIPA Plus) program, has delivered the first batch of 4,000 irrigation pumps to Marja...
15 April 2010 | Marja, Hilmand Province, Afghanistan
Only a month after the end of Operation Moshtarak, newly appointed Marja District Governor Hajji Zaher has already held the first in a series of...
15 December 2009 | Parwan Province, Afghanistan
On November 17, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) Mohammed Asif Rahimi launched this year’s national wheat seed and fertilizer distribution program, which will...
In The News
6 February 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
U.S. Embassy/Daniel Wilkinson U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry and Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Mohammad Asif Rahimi, inaugurated a Farm Mechanization Program at...
5 October 2010 | Kabul, Afghanistan
افغانی کلیوال بزرګران سهار وختی په صف کی قطار ولاړ ول ترڅو د ۲۰۱۰ کال د غنمو د ویش په ملی پرورګرام کی چی د...
دهاقین محلی افغانی در صبح وقت در صف قرار گرفته تا در توزیع ملی تخم بذری گندم سال 2010 که توسط پروگرام (AVIPA) که توسط...
Local Afghan farmers lined up in the early morning hours to partake in the 2010 national wheat seed distribution, provided by the USAID-funded Afghanistan Vouchers...
17 November 2009 | Chaharikar, Parwan Province, Afghanistan
وزیر زراعت، آبیاری ومالداری آصف رحیمی پروگرام ملی توزیع تخم اصلاح شده و کود کیمیاوی سال جاری را که برای بیش از دو میلیون دهقان...
Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) Mohammed Asif Rahimi today launched this year’s national wheat seed and fertilizer distribution program, which will help more...
Last updated 23 May 2013
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