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Afghanistan Has Bumper Corn Harvest
Egypt is saved! Or not, but at least they will have fewer competitors for the grain going to Chinese pigs.
This year's corn harvest is 40 per cent bigger than that of 2011, officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock said.

The harvest yielded 6.3 million tonnes of corn this year. This is only the second time in 35 years the harvest has been this big.

As well as corn, the country produced 5 million tonnes of wheat, 500,000 tonnes of rice, and 300,000 tonnes of maize.

Ministry officials said that Afghanistan requires 6.7 million tonnes of corn this year so will import 400,000 tonnes of corn from abroad.

Deputy agriculture minister Abdul Ghani Ghoryan said: "We are optimistic about the coming years: Afghanistan will become a good exporter of corn in ten years."

Japan pledged $11 million to the agriculture ministry for buying and distributing modified seeds to Afghan farmers.

The Japanese ambassador to Afghanistan, Reiichiro Takahash, said the project is sign of his country's commitment to Afghanistan. The project will implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Posted by: trailing wife 2012-08-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=350486