BAGHLAN/KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Across the parched farmlands of northern Afghanistan, a merciless climate crisis is unfolding. Soaring temperatures, erratic rains, violent hailstorms, and extreme weather swings are devastating crops with a ferocity never seen by local farmers, driving yields into sharp decline and pushing vulnerable rural communities to the brink.
Abdul Hamid, 56, has spent 18 years coaxing sustenance from four acres of land in the Baghlan Markazi district of northern Baghlan province, 160 km north of the Afghan capital Kabul. This year, his harvest has been all but obliterated.
"The rains came at the wrong time. First they destroyed the wheat crop, then they ruined the tomatoes, melons, and watermelons," he recounted, with his voice carrying the weary resignation of a man watching his life's work slip through his fingers.
The unseasonable downpours have done more than drown his fields; they have unleashed a cascade of novel afflictions upon his crops. "Many new diseases have emerged. Previously, we only dealt with worms, but now mosquitoes and different types of soil worms appear due to the heavy rains," Hamid told Xinhua.
The economic toll has been nothing short of catastrophic. "Last year, I earned 450,000 afghanis (about 6,800 U.S. dollars) from my harvest, but so far this year, I have only managed to sell produce worth 30,000 afghanis (nearly 450 dollars)," said Abdul Hamid.
In another district of Baghlan, Khenjan, Ghulam Mohiuddin, 67, has worked the land since childhood. His weathered hands tell a story of decades devoted to wheat and rice cultivation on five acres of land. But the rhythms he once relied upon have fractured.
"The intensity of the heat has increased compared to previous years," he said, gesturing toward fields that once yielded abundant harvests.
"The hot weather has caused our yields to decline." With 12 family members depending on him, the stakes could hardly be higher. "The intense sunlight has made the crops susceptible to various diseases," he added, pointing to a phenomenon that scientists warn is accelerating: rising temperatures weakening plant resistance and creating fertile ground for pests and pathogens to thrive.
A few kilometers away, in neighboring Kunduz Province, Azizullah, a farmer who has devoted his entire existence to the land, faces a similar plight. Born into a farming family in Khanabad district, he has watched the weather patterns he once understood with certainty turn treacherous and capricious. "Due to the untimely rains, the melons have not grown well," he said.
The maths of survival has turned brutally harsh. Last year, from four acres of land cultivated with melons and wheat, he earned 300,000 afghanis (more than 4,500 U.S. dollars). This year, the figure has shriveled to approximately 200,000 afghanis (about 3,000 dollars), a one-third reduction that represents not merely lost income, but diminished prospects for the entire year ahead. "The heat is intense and has dried up the plants," Azizullah told Xinhua among the withered melon bushes.
On the scorched outskirts of Kunduz city, where temperatures have climbed above 42 degrees Celsius, Baz Mohammad sat beside his roadside stall, his goods wilting under a sun that offers no mercy. The father of eight, the sole breadwinner for his family, depends entirely on three acres of land that are now yielding less with each passing season.
"Worms appear in the heat and destroy melons, tomatoes, okra, and other vegetables," he said, describing a phenomenon that experts link to rising temperatures creating better conditions for agricultural pests to proliferate and spread.
"The extreme heat has reduced our yields." Each word carried the weight of a man fighting against an adversary he can neither see nor escape.
For a nation where an estimated 80 percent of the more than 37 million inhabitants depend on agriculture for survival, the intensifying environmental assault is not merely an economic setback. It is a slow, grinding unraveling of livelihoods, food security, and the very stability of rural communities that form the backbone of Afghan society.
Drought and water scarcity remain the most pervasive threats, affecting more than half the population, according to a report issued in early June by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Prolonged dry periods have crippled agriculture across vast swaths of the country, leaving rural communities parched and desperate.
Paradoxically, rainfall brings devastation rather than relief when it finally arrives. Sudden flash floods triggered by heavy downpours have inflicted crippling losses on standing crops. Data from Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority reveals that more than 32,000 acres of farmland have been destroyed in the past three months alone, a staggering loss in a country where land is not merely an asset but the foundation of identity and survival.
Compounding the crisis are deep structural vulnerabilities. Afghan farmers remain trapped by limited access to modern equipment, outdated farming methods, crumbling road infrastructure, a lack of cold storage facilities, and chronic shortages of climate-resilient seeds.
As global temperatures continue their inexorable rise, the fields of Afghanistan stand as a stark warning, a testament to what happens when climate change collides with vulnerable agricultural systems. ■
