The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Afghanistan on May 1, 2025 launched a horticultural and livestock products exhibition in Kabul.
The four-day showpiece has based its motto on how agriculture and livestock guarantees health and economic growth.
On display across 263 stalls are local saffron, livestock merchandise, medicinal herbs, irrigated crops, spices, dairy, and women’s handicrafts.
Women’s Leather Handicrafts
The Badam Bagh Research Farm where the meet is happening has dedicated some 56 such stalls to women’s crafts.
According to Relief Web, women in Afghanistan dominate small livestock activities such as poultry. They also do backyard herding, thus gaining access to handicrafts that they make from hides, earthenware and cotton.
Women’s handicrafts, such as shawls, carpets and kilims (rugs) are also lucrative livestock textile exports, hence their showcase at the venue.
Affiliated to these crafts is raw animal hair, which in 2021 was the country’s second biggest livestock export, worth $3.94 million.
Livestock a Key Industry
Even though Afghanistan’s agricultural economy is mostly horticultural, livestock rearing contributes 15% of the local agri-food GDP.
Because of the rampant lack of water in the dry countryside, herding is a preoccupation of mainly the Kuchi nomads.
These peoples still contribute a significant portion of the export economy in live animals, wool, cheese and other products.
As the showcase will no doubt highlight, textiles, especially furskins, are the primary livestock commodity export of the country.
Wool from sheep not only sells in its raw form but as processed products. Sheep skins, on the other hand, rank as the country’s fifteenth biggest export worth $2.19 million per year, as of 2021.
Live animals sales also generate substantial income, with the World Bank reporting 2019 exports at over $4.74 million.
Sheep and goats lead the live animal categories, mostly bound to neighboring countries and far off Europe. Regional live animal trade with Pakistan and Bangladesh is for both breeding and consumption needs.
Although the important crop sector will ultimately dominate the ongoing show, livestock products from Afghanistan will shine, too. For a wider scope on the sector and its economic importance, browse through the statistics below.
Statistics of Afghanistan Livestock Products
Although it contributes a 7th part or 15% of the agricultural GDP, livestock rearing is an important economic activity in Afghanistan. In a country where 75% of the population depends on either farming or livestock livelihoods, domestic animals are a necessity.
Afghan livestock had a market value of over $7 billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year, according to Relief Web. Most of this derives from the 22 million head of cattle, sheep, goats and camels, and 12 million domestic birds.
In terms of exports, live animal trade is under little representation, for the dominant commodities are textiles. In 2022, for example, the leading animal product was raw furskins at 5.15% of all national exports. Knotted carpets followed at 1.57% export share, alongside uncombed animal hair at 0.95%, while sheep skins came fourth at 0.53%.
Which are Afghanistan’s key export markets for live animals?
Of the over $4.74 million in live animals that Afghanistan exported in 2019, about $4.54 million ended up in Europe and Central Asia. According to the World Bank, Germany controlled trade in the European market with an import value of almost $2.89 million.
How much does Afghanistan earn from leather and women’s handicraft trade?
In 2022, leather brought $30 million in exports while handicrafts, including those from plant sources and pottery, generated $50 million. Carpets alone were worth $100 million, many of which from women’s cottage industries.