A number of farmers from eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday said this year's orange harvest had been particularly good and that the number of orange-based products has increased substantially.

They said there had been a marked increase in oranges harvested on the Nangarhar Canal Project. 

The farmers said the orange trees on farms on the canal project produced a high yield of fruit this year. 

“We spent a lot on our gardens and government should support us in this regard,” said Waliullah, one  farmer. 

“We are trying to increase the products. You see this year all the trees are full of oranges. The products will increase many times if more effort is done in this regard,” said Hasibullah, another farmer.  

Meanwhile, Nangarhar local officials welcomed the increase of orange products but said anti-government armed groups also plundered the orange farms.  

“We are trying to implement plans to prevent the embezzlement of revenue for these small farms so as to increase them,” Nangarhar governor Gulab Mangal said. 

Nangarhar provincial council members called on government to manage the revenue generated by these orange farms in the province and to prevent armed groups from getting their hands on the money.   

“We said in the past that the embezzlement of farming revenue should be prohibited and government should not let armed groups take the money,” Obaidullah Shinwari, a member of the council said. 

Nangarhar Canal Projects covers 11,000 acres of land for cultivation - of mostly orange and olive trees. However, some farmers have diversified and are cultivating other produce. 

This canal project was a serious revenue generator for government before the civil war.