Growing Strawberry
Written by: Mir Aqa Etibar
In recent years, different varieties of strawberry are growing in Afghanistan. One kind of them is Badakhshi. As strawberry produces fruits about four times a year, therefore most peasants are willing to grow strawberry but as the cultivation of this plant is new in our country, and they could not get the desirable result from their efforts.
AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some gardeners about the cultivation of strawberry.
Sharifullah, a resident of Maidan-Wardak province says: “I cultivated strawberry in my more land but I did not get a good result.”
Habiburrahman, a resident of Nangarhar province says: “I cultivated strawberries but all plants got dried and I do not know the cause of it.”
Zaheeruddin, a resident of Laghman province says: “I am a landowner and I cultivated strawberries in my land but I got no product and the fruit spoiled in the plants.”
The writer/producer has also talked about the cultivation of strawberry to Badamgul, a gardener at Badam Bagh agricultural research Farm, Kabul city. Badamgul says: “We have imported strawberry plants from abroad because the seeds of straw do not have a convenient result and take more time to grow. The strawberry yields more fruits in mild weather. In Kabul, it yields in the spring but in the fall season, it doesn’t have good products.
It would be better to plant strawberry in a row, and they should be about 5cms far from the stream and plants should be 50 cm meters away from each other.
The first month of spring and the third month of summer is a good time for growing strawberry.
Strawberry doesn’t need irrigation in the winter but it should be watered once a week in the summer.”