KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday opened the 15th exhibition of agricultural products in Badam Bagh area in Kabul, where he said despite being an agricultural country, Afghanistan imports over $3 billion USD in fresh produce and dairy products every year.

He said the ministries of Finance and Agriculture must in their next 100-day plan work at removing marketing obstacles to boost the sale of local products.

Ghani said no attention has been paid to improve the agriculture sector in the past few years.

He said the reasons for the huge import demand was because of land grabbing, lack of support to farmers, lack of farming facilities and the lack of fertilized seeds.

"Currently, we import agricultural and dairy products worth $3 billion annually. We will work at improving the quality of local products," Ghani said.

He maintained that developing the sector was a top priority for government and that all the requirements of foodstuff for security forces will, in the next two years, be from local products only.

"We have drafted plans to include local products in procurement agreements of police and army within one year, and this process will reach 100 percent in the next two years," he added.

Meanwhile, a number of women farmers called on the government to help improve women's economic conditions in villages.

"Lots of work is needed to be done to support women in agriculture. There are lots of problems that need to be solved," said Nazifa, a participant at the event.

The exhibition meanwhile will be held over the next three days and 200 different types of agricultural products are on display. (Tolonews)